Eight Months
by sototallyrandom
Summary: Simmons, Ward, May, Fitz, and Coulson thought Skye had betrayed them, but when they stumble upon her after eight months, they begin to wonder if it was Skye who had been disloyal to them, or if it was the other way around. Skimmons.
1. Chapter 1

It had been eight months since any of Coulson's team had seen Skye. The last time she was with any of them was in Coulson's office, when he handed her the tracking bracelet after they found out about Miles. After that she had disappeared. Not off the grid, the bracelet could give the team her exact location. The team had been in dismay when they saw that Skye was located at a known Rising Tide hideout. She had betrayed them again. Coulson decided to cut all ties to Skye. He told Fitzsimmons to stop tracking Skye's bracelet. That's why Ward was so surprised to see her.

The team was in the middle of a mission. Ward was waiting at the known trade location between two of the people they were looking for. It was a little cafe in a middle-of-nowhere town. To maintain cover, he was going to order something as he sat at the booth. He was still staring at the table when the waitress approached him.

"What can I get y-" The familiar voice stopped mid-sentence. Ward looked up and was stunned to be staring into the eyes of a certain hacker.

He sat there and she stood there for a very long moment of silence.

"Catherine, are you alright?" Another waitress put her hand on Skye's shoulder.

"Catherine? You've got to be kidding me." Ward said. Skye slapped her pad of paper and pen onto his table quite forcefully.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed. Skye's friend took her angry tone as a hint to beat it. She went back to the kitchen, but kept a close eye on the two.

"I could ask you the same thing, Catherine." He taunted her.

"Just get out of here before you screw everything up." She whispered.

"Why are you whispering Skye, don't want anyone else to know you're lying?" Ward glanced pointedly at Skye's waitress friend. He was pushing Skye's buttons in just the right way. The hate Skye felt towards him at that very moment was unbearable. Skye's former teammates were the only people she's ever wanted to die.

Ward froze when he saw the tiny laser dot quivering on the table, undecided about who it was it was going to target. The beam could only be coming from a gunman, far away outside.

Ward acted hastily and grabbed Skye's arm, yanking her down forcefully as he dove under the table. A bullet shattered a tile on the floor and Ward shuddered when he heard the sound of Skye's head banging against the table from when he had pulled her down. He didn't know why he did it, he had the opportunity to let the dirty little liar perish for what she had done, but he couldn't do it.

The civilians in the room were screaming and exiting as fast as possible. It was all Skye's fault, Ward thought. She had probably brought unwanted attention to him.

"Catherine!" The other waitress cried out when she saw Skye's crumpled body on the ground.

Ward felt sorry for Skye's friend, but he had to do the right thing for his team and take Skye in. He couldn't let her run back to Rising Tide and do any more damage. He lifted her effortlessly and made his way back to the bus without getting shot.

* * *

A pounding in Skye's head woke her up, and the first thing she noticed was the honeycomb wall in front of her eyes.

"No!" Skye shot into an upright position and immediately tried to free herself from her bonds. Her chest heaved up and down with her panicked breaths and she realized that she couldn't get out of the handcuffs restraining her and keeping her at the table.

Ward and Coulson didn't give her much time before entering the room and taking the seats opposite of her. The two both noticed that Skye was averting her eyes. Ward assumed she was about to lie through her teeth.

"What do you want?" Skye asked, still looking into her lap.

"We're not entirely sure, we just know that you're part of an organization trying to bring us down, and you lied to us. You gained our trust and then betrayed it." Ward told her angrily. The look on Skye's face almost physically hurt Ward and Coulson. She looked so angry, angrier than they'd ever seen the person they'd known as bubbly and affectionate.

"Oh, no. I did _way_ more than that. I. Trusted. You." She spit the words at who she used to think were her friends. The way she said the words stung Ward and Coulson even though they didn't understand how this could possibly be their fault.

"Did you ever once consider that I didn't leave the plane of my own free will?" Skye asked. Her anger was slowly settling in her stomach, exposing her sadness and desperation. The question took Ward and Coulson by surprise.

"Why would we? When we saw that your tracking bracelet was at a known Rising Tide hideout, so we assumed-" Coulson was trying to explain how angry he was with her, but he was cut off.

"You knew where I was the whole _damn_ time?!" She screamed at them. Tears were in her eyes and she stood up from her chair. The chains of her handcuffs rattled as she struggled towards them.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ward asked. He had finally started feeling like something was off here, that she knew something they didn't. That wasn't unusual, but this time it was different.

Skye shook her head and clearly tried to calm down, sitting back in the chair. She yanked at her hands one last time before finally settling. She stared at one of the shapes on the floor to avoid looking at them.

Ward knew something important had just snapped in his former rookie. It terrified him more to see Skye right now, looking as if she was buckling under whatever pressure she was feeling, than to see her enraged, even if her anger was directed at him for some unknown reason.

They couldn't get a word out of her after that. Not a single word. She wouldn't even look at them. Ward and Coulson both left the room.

Coulson decided they should give Simmons a chance, maybe Skye would talk to someone with a softer heart, maybe she could get Skye to tell her something. Maybe they just had the wrong approach.

"Jemma?" Skye asked as she came through the door and sat in front of her.

"Skye, what happened?" Jemma asked he softly.

"Oh, great, they sent you in here with a script." Skye growled. Jemma was taken aback by Skye's anger. The same as the others, she'd never seen Skye so angry.

"No, it's not like that." Jemma told her. Jemma then noticed the way Skye's eyes would squeeze shut tightly every now and then. If she knew anything, the biochemist knew when Skye was in pain.

"Did... did Ward do this to you?" Jemma asked. She ignored the fact that Skye could possibly hurt her as she walk around the table and pushed back Skye's hair to reveal blood.

"on accident." Skye muttered, shrugging off Jemma's hands and looking away from her. Jemma paid acute attention to detail, and she noticed something she wondered how Ward didn't notice. It was quite a warm day outside, but Skye was still wearing long sleeves.

Jemma reached for Skye's wrist, but hesitated when Skye realized what she was doing and shot her a death glare. But Jemma only hesitated, she went right back at it a moment later. She gently tugged Skye's sleeve up to her elbow. She didn't see anything at first, but she knew Skye was holding the bottom side of her arm against the table for a reason. Skye looked away as Jemma gently turned over her arm. Jemma gasped.

The wounds weren't new, but they were there. Etched into Skye's arm with a blade was the word TRAITOR. Those weren't the only marks though, Jemma pulled both of Skye's sleeves up to her shoulders. Her arms were covered in thin scars. At first Jemma thought Skye did it to herself, but quickly changed her mind.

"I'm taking her to the lab." Jemma said to the camera in the room as she unlocked Skye's handcuffs. She knew the girl wasn't going to hurt her, she and Skye were friends. The first thing Skye did with her free hands was pull her sleeves back down.

"Simmons, leave her in here." Ward said as he entered. The fury immediately returned in Skye's eyes, but she didn't act on it.

"She's injured." Jemma told him. "and you did it." Jemma knew he would feel guilty, and during his moment of weakness she took Skye by the wrist and led her out of the tiny prison cell.

* * *

"Follow the light with your eyes." Jemma ordered Skye. She did as she was told, slightly uncomfortable with the tiny light flashing at her.

"You don't seem to have a concussion, but I'm going to keep an eye on you." Jemma said brightly. When Jemma was answered with nothing but silence, she was truly disappointed. She didn't think Skye would ever ice her out, they had been close. Neither of the girls had ever had a girl-friend before, so the bond that had been between them was a strong one borne from new experiences.

"Will you let me see?" Jemma asked, getting straight to the point. Skye knew that Jemma wasn't going to let her get away without showing her, even if she said no. So Skye complied. She looked around to make sure no one else was near. Then, in one deft movement, she pulled her shirt over her head.

Jemma had to refrain from gasping when she saw Skye's body. Skye closed her eyes as Jemma walked around her, eyes wide.

Jemma realized that the marks on Skye's arms were the least of the scars. Along her shoulder blades were long slashes and in various places on her torso there was scar tissue suggesting Skye had been impaled.

"Skye..." Tears were brimming in Jemma's eyes as she saw all the injuries Skye had somehow sustained during the past eight months.

Skye quickly threw on her shirt and hopped off the examining table.

"Will you just let me out? I promise not to ever hack into your systems or anything, I just want to leave." Skye begged Jemma.

"Why are you so eager to get out of here?" She asked.

"I-I can't explain it." Jemma could tell by the way that Skye was talking and pacing the room that there was something Skye was hiding, and she didn't like it. Skye had been hiding things as long as she'd known her.

"What is it you don't want me to know? You can tell me, Skye. Nothing's going to happen to you." Jemma tried to assure her. Jemma tried to catch Skye's upper arm with her hand but Skye jumped away and stared at it like it was poison. Jemma wondered what the hell could have changed Skye so much.

"Are you... afraid of me?" Jemma asked in disbelief.

"No, I'm not afraid. I'm mad and I'm hurt." Skye admitted. Jemma was just about to get somewhere with her when Ward barged in.

"This isn't Skye. Not anymore." Ward growled as he grabbed a handful of Skye's hair and pulled back. She cried out in pain, but didn't try to fight him.

"What are you doing?!" Jemma yelled. She tried to approach them, but Ward put out his hand to stop her.

"I spotted it on the cameras." Ward said in explanation as he turned Skye to face him and pulled Skye's hair away from her back. What he exposed was a device attached to the back of her neck at her hairline. A small device that was glowing orange. It was like one section of a centipede device.

"Skye?" Jemma choked.

"Get Fitz." Ward told Jemma as he replaced the hand cuffs on Skye's wrists.

"You can't take it off." Skye muttered. Ward pulled out a night-night gun and shot Skye in the chest without any hesitation. Jemma's body jumped at the sound and she rushed to retrieve her from Ward.


	2. Chapter 2

"It has a port." Fitz said in confusion. He, Jemma, and Ward were standing around the observation table. Skye was still unconscious and she was placed on her stomach with her hair moved off to one side so Fitz could get a good look at the centipede tech.

"What does that mean?" Ward asked.

"She's supposed to plug into something." Fitzsimmons said simultaneously.

"What does it do?" Ward asked.

"I don't know, but it attaches Skye's brain to a computer, and knowing Skye, that is probably a very powerful thing." Jemma told him. This was the first time Ward considered that the events of the last eight months hadn't been Skye's fault. That maybe she was a victim.

Ward began to hope that Skye had been an ass and had ran to the Rising Tide headquarters, because he didn't want to believe something horrible had happened to her. If it had it would have been his fault. All of their faults.

Then it all began to click into place. Ward understood Skye's anger towards him and the team, understood her tears.

_"Did you ever once consider that I didn't leave the plane of my own free will?"_

_"You knew where I was the whole __**damn**__ time?!"_

Skye's words began to make sense. Skye hadn't abandoned them, she'd been taken. He hadn't said anything, but he'd seen Skye on the surveillance cameras when she took off her shirt and he now knew. For some reason, a reason he intended to find out, Skye had been tortured. She had been kidnapped and tortured and the whole time she believed her team was going to save her. No one had come for their team or had any inside knowledge since she left, showing that Skye hadn't even cracked a bit. She endured torture to stay loyal to the people who thought she was a traitor.

He didn't blame her for hating him when he ran into her, especially when she found out they hadn't even tried to save her when they knew exactly where she was.

Ward took a step back from the unconscious girl on the table in front of him. Ward was a horrible, horrible person and he knew it. Every mark on his rookie's body was his fault.

* * *

Loyalty is a strange thing. It's the bondage between two people or groups of people. Loyalty is giving constant support and allegiance. In that respect, he was the traitor. He assumed the worst about Skye's intentions when really it was him who should have been double checking his own actions.

When Ward informed Coulson of everything they had discovered, like Skye's scars and her centipede, the look on his face was heartbroken. He too blamed himself for Skye's misfortune.

Coulson and Ward went back to the lab to see Skye. There was so much they had to fix.  
When they walked through the doors the first thing they noticed was that Skye was no longer there.

"I swear, we only left for a second." Fitz said apologetically. They both looked guilty.

"Where's Skye?" Coulson asked.

"She's gone, sir." Jemma said as she wrung her hands together in front of her.

"Search the bus!" Coulson ordered.

"Wait, sir." Jemma interrupted. Jemma and Fitz spoke in intervals, each taking a turn as they explained.

"From what we've gathered, we fear that Skye is in danger."

"The centipede on her neck, it's purpose is to connect her brain to a computer."

"We thought Skye was a good hacker, but now she's much, much more."

"Because of Skye's wealth of computer knowledge, when she's connected to a computer her brain enters data a hundred times faster than she could before."

"Her brain is basically a computer." Jemma finishes.

"In the hands of the people who made her-" Coulson starts.

"She's a weapon." Ward states.

"Alright. New mission, meet in the briefing room." Coulson ordered as he stalked off.

* * *

"Skye's more important than whatever bastards we were chasing before." Coulson told his team. "This mission needs to be off record. Centipede is looking for their weapon, which means SHIELD will be looking too. We need to find her before anyone else. If centipede finds her, who knows what they'll do. If SHIELD finds her, they'll treat her like any other weapon and lock her up for good." Coulson explained.

"What do we do once we find her?" Jemma asked.

"I don't know yet. That's your job." Coulson told her.

"Do you have any idea where to start?" May asked.

"I have one idea." Ward said. "But only I should go in, I know someone who might know Skye and I don't want to scare her off."

* * *

"You! You're the one who took Catherine!" Was the first thing out of the waitress's mouth when Ward entered the cafe. The cafe was empty because it was nearly closing time. It was a good thing, Ward assumed they would need some privacy.

The waitress picked up a phone to call 911, but Ward held his hands up in surrender.

"It's not what you think. I'm trying to save her life." Ward tried to say. She froze. Ward didn't get an objection, so he tried to elaborate.

"There are some very bad people after Sk-... Catherine." Ward told her.

"There is something special about her, isn't there?" The waitress asked, intrigued. She slid into a booth and Ward sat across from her.

"You have no idea." Ward rolled his eyes when he thought of how special Skye really was.

"Can I ask, how did you meet her?" Ward crossed his arms on the table in front of him and listened intently as the waitress recounted her first time meeting Skye.

"I was walking from my apartment to the cafe to open up one rainy morning, about six months ago. Some strange girl was walking down the street, soaking wet and covered in blood. I offered her help, but she only accepted once I promised I wouldn't ask any questions. I brought her into the cafe and kept her in a booth while I was working the whole day, filling her up with hot chocolate and anything I could give her. She asked for work and where a good place to stay was. We made a deal, she worked here for room and board at my apartment. Before I knew it, Cat and I were friends. I've been worried sick since you dragged her out of here. Where is she, is she ok?"

"She will be." Ward answered. He was disappointed that Skye hadn't been here, It would have been so easy.

"You asked me a question about her. Even though I promised her I wouldn't ask questions, can I ask you one?" The waitress, whom Ward found out was named Ashley, was nervously tapping her foot on the ground.

"You can ask, but I can't guarantee that I'll have or be able to give you an answer." Ward replied after consideration.

"What's got Catherine in so much trouble? What was she before she got to me?" Ashley asked the inevitable question. Ward sighed, he couldn't give SHIELD information to civilians.

"You've got to tell me, it can't be worse than I've imagined." Ashley told him. Ward almost smiled. The two girls were alike in more ways than one.

"Sk- Catherine. Catherine is a professional hacker. She's a valuable asset to our enemies, they want to exploit her talents."

"Catherine?! A hacker?!" Ashley let out a laugh. "Catherine won't go near computers, she can't even turn on the television without it going to static." Ashley told him. Ward assumed Skye had been trying to maintain a cover by staying away from tech, it was probably smart.

"Is her name really Catherine?" Ashley suddenly asked in a gloomy tone.

"No." He answered simply.

"Can you tell me her name?"

"Skye." Ward said. Saying her name softly made him even more remorseful.

"Skye." Ashley said, trying out the sound of it. "It suits her."

"As much as talking about Skye is delightful, I really do need your help." Ward interrupted the friendly chat. "Do you have ANY idea where she is or any idea where she would go if she was in trouble?"

Ashley suddenly tensed up.

"How am I supposed to know you're not the one after her?" Ashley asked. It was a valid question, Ward didn't blame her for asking. He would have asked too if the situation was reversed.

Ward fumbled around in his jacket pocket for a moment before pulling out a picture of him and Skye he had been keeping with him recently. Skye had taken it on her phone while they were training. Ward had Skye in a headlock and she somehow had thought this was the perfect time to hold out her hand and take a picture. Ward had found it so amusing, the both of them were grinning widely, Skye's head stuck in his arm.

He hesitantly handed the photo to Ashley.

"There's a park down the street thataway." Ashley pointed in the direction she meant. "Cat goes there after work almost every day." Ashley says. Ward pitied her, Ashley still spoke like everything will be back to normal for her soon, that Skye always has and always will work in the cafe with her.

"If she's at the apartment or I see her anywhere, how do I contact you?" Ashley asked him. Ward wrote a phone number on a nearby napkin and slid it across the table towards her.

"Keep in touch?" he checked with her as he stood up.

"Keep Catherine safe." She responded affirmatively. Ward nodded and left the cafe.

* * *

Jemma had been working in the lab, looking for any clue Skye may have left knowingly or unknowingly. She turned at just the right moment and saw Skye trying to sneak across the cargo hold. Skye was smart, she hadn't even left the plane yet. She had hidden and waited for everyone to search for her before she made her escape.

Skye wasn't yet aware that Jemma had spotted her, and Jemma used this to her advantage. Jemma couldn't let Skye slip through her fingers when there was so much at stake. Jemma discretely grabbed a night-night gun. The moment Skye tried to cross the cargo hold Jemma opened the lab door. Skye whipped her head around, but Jemma already had the gun pointed at Skye's chest.

"Come here Skye." Jemma said. "Please." She felt like she was coaxing a stray dog, and in a way she was. Skye was obviously unstable, Jemma just didn't quite know why yet.

"They tried to get me to work for them again, but I wouldn't do it." Skye suddenly blurted out.

"Did Rising Tide do all of this to you?" Jemma asked her. She had slowly started lowering her weapon and Skye had slowly been taking small steps back to the lab. Skye wanted to stay, she wanted it more than anything. She missed Jemma the most, and after finally seeing her Skye never wanted to leave. But she had to protect them, she couldn't be selfish. Skye walked over to the controls and opened the cargo hold. Thankfully, they were on the ground.

"Skye, get back in here." Jemma held up the gun again.

"I know you won't shoot me." Skye told Jemma. "You wouldn't hurt me." She says. Jemma' heart breaks and tears brim in her eyes. She almost lowered the gun, but her fingers quivered on the trigger and her brain was winning the war against her heart. Jemma squeezed her eyes shut and mustered up the courage to press the trigger. Her hands shake and her body jumps involuntarily when she hears a loud thump that confirms her shot had hit its target.

"I would if it means saving you." Jemma whispered. She opened her eyes to see Ward and Fitz staring at her in shock. When she saw Skye on the ground she instantly felt guilty. She just shot her friend, even if it was only a night-night gun, she shot the one who already felt betrayed by her.

Skye's face wasn't visible, her dark hair hung over her face. Jemma's hands shook so badly that the night-night gun slipped from her hands and clattered on the ground.

"You did good." Ward lifted Skye's body and her head lulled back. Fitz pulled Jemma into a hug and tried to calm her nerves.

"Don't let her out again." ward told Jemma as he passed her by with Skye's body in his arms.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey there Rookie." Ward greeted Skye as he entered the honeycomb cell. Skye looked defeated as she lay on her side on the small mattress in the cell. She acknowledged him by sitting up but didn't look him in the eye.

"Don't call me that." She said softly. It upset Ward that Skye wasn't present in her own eyes any more.

After leaving the cafe Ward had searched the park for an hour before retiring to the bus, where he had run into Jemma after she shot Skye. Skye's mental state had only seemed to get worse the more time she spent here.

When Ward had first seen her in the cafe, it had still been Skye. An angry Skye, but still with the same personality. Now she seemed sad and childlike.

Ward sat down on the mattress next to her.

"I know this is probably worth nothing now, but I'm sorry." Ward told her. Ward was surprised. It was like the words 'I'm sorry' were a key to unlocking her story the entire time. Skye started sobbing and Ward pulled her close.

"We didn't know, but we should have." Ward whispered into her hair as he pushed it out of her face.

When Skye finally calmed down the two of them were silent, Skye leaning into Ward's side and Ward never loosening his grip around Skye. He hadn't realized how much he had missed her.

"Miles, I told him I wanted to stay with you guys. He didn't like that. He didn't get off the plane when he was told, he hid until we touched the ground and he took me with him." Skye told Ward. He didn't want to open his mouth and accidentally stop Skye, so instead he just comforted her and continued rubbing small circles into her back. Skye continued, finally ready to pour out her heart to someone.

"When I refused to work with them they said they didn't want to lose me to shield, so they sold me to centipede, who knew about my hacking. They gave the excuse that they had the same enemy.

"They implanted this stupid thing on my neck. They wanted me to hack into everything shield had, take it, and then wipe everything."

"But you didn't did you?" Ward asked, already knowing the answer.

"I wouldn't do anything. They tried to torture me into it, they..." Skye tried to lift her sleeve, but Ward placed his hand over hers. He shook his head gently and let her continue his story.

"They even offered me the file on my parents. They told me they would let me look." Skye said. Now she was really choked up. Ward was impressed. On multiple occasions Skye had almost compromised a mission because of that file.

"I'm so sorry Skye." Ward told her. His voice shook; tears were now brimming in his eyes, and he hardly ever let that happen. He usually had to keep his emotions in check, but he couldn't always do that with Skye.

* * *

Quite honestly, Jemma was quite jealous. When she saw Ward on his way to visit Skye, she went to a separate room nearby to watch what happened Through the cameras. When Skye began opening up, Jemma felt guilty that sorrow wasn't her first emotion. She was jealous that Skye would talk to Ward, the hard ass, before her, Skye's best friend. But how could she have expected Skye to talk to her? She'd just shot her less than three hours ago. _But Ward shot her too, and he did it in a crueler fashion, _Jemma thought to herself. She couldn't understand why Skye felt more open with him.

When she saw Ward gently kiss the top of Skye's head, her cheeks turned pink, but not out of embarrassment. Jemma couldn't gain control of herself, her jealousy was beginning to drive her crazy and she couldn't understand why. She had never liked a girl before, why now? And how? Jemma was a scientist, she always thought that she was just like most normal people, a female attracted to males. But the way she felt when she saw someone else with Skye was unbearable.

"I don't mean to pry, but how did you end up on the streets?" Ward asked. Jemma suddenly went from jealous of Ward to pissed at him. Of course he was prying! Couldn't he see that Skye was upset! Why wasn't he letting her reveal what she wanted to?

"I escaped." Jemma heard Skye's voice crackle through the monitoring. She was shocked that Skye answered him.

She heard a tiny noise from the other side of the plane, but paid no bother and went back to watching through the camera. Her eyes caught movement on another camera and she saw many people with big guns entering through the cargo hold, they had somehow managed to get it to open from the outside. Jemma flew out of her chair so fast it was left spinning in her dust.

Jemma sprinted as fast as her legs would take her to the cell, where she burst into the door with little concern about startling them. Skye jumped to her feet and Ward stood up calmly.

"People... Cargo hold... Probably Centipede." Jemma panted.


	4. Chapter 4

"People... Cargo hold... Probably Centipede.." Jemma panted. She would definitely make a terrible field agent; running was not her forte.

"Skye, take this." Ward shoved a gun into Skye's hands and handed another to Jemma. They had real bullets in them. Skye quickly glanced at Jemma's gun and then up to her face. Jemma was hurt when she saw a tiny flicker of hesitation or fear in Skye's eyes.

"Get out another emergency exit and run as far away from here as you can. Contact me in twenty four hours." Ward ordered them. Both girls nodded and Skye led the way, holding her gun out in front of her the whole time in case of any unfriendies.

"Skye." Jemma tried to grab the hacker's attention as they made their way to an exit. Skye was probably the only one who knew where the emergency exits were, she was the only one who read the safety manual.

"I had to do it-" Jemma started the long apology essay she'd written in her head earlier.

"I appreciate that you feel the need to apologize for shooting me, but now really isn't the time." Skye whispered. Jemma smiled, the interruption was the most Skye-like thing she'd seen in a long time.

Skye stopped hesitantly when they heard gunshot, but Jemma grabbed her upper arm and kept going. There was nothing they could do to help Ward, neither of them could fight and it would only make the battle harder for him if he had to protect them. Skye didn't willingly come with Jemma until she pointed this out.

As soon as they were off the plane, Jemma and Skye ran from the landing strip the plane was on to the nearest road.

"Now where do we go?" Jemma asked in exasperation.

"I know where we are." Skye said after she took a look around.

"Please, enlighten me." Jemma said. Skye stood at the edge of the road and when she saw a car in the distance, she stuck her thumb out.

"Are you crazy?" Jemma asked. Skye rolled her eyes and walked over to Jemma. "Hitchhiking?"

"Take that thing off, we're trying to look normal." Skye told Jemma as she grabbed one edge of her lab coat and began pulling it off of her friend. Skye's fingers brushed against Jemma's collarbone and a shiver ran down Jemma's spine. She shrugged her coat off completely and practically winced as Skye threw it behind a bush. Skye also removed her gun from her waistband and held out her hand for Jemma's. Jemma reluctantly handed it over, knowing why Skye had to get rid of them, but not wanting to throw away their only defense. No one was going to let two gun bearing strangers into their car.

"And get your priorities straight." Skye laughed at Jemma as she walked back to the road and held out her hand. "Stranger danger is the least of our problems right now."

Jemma beamed. It was like Skye had suddenly bounced back to her old self in less than three seconds. It was obvious that Skye hadn't liked being under lock and key. She felt free, Jemma observed. And for Skye, because of how she led her life and what happened to her recently, free was probably Skye's favorite word.

Or maybe it was Jemma. Maybe Skye was herself around Jemma. This thought had Jemma giddy for a moment.

The car Skye had first seen pulled over next to them. It already made Jemma nervous that it was a pickup truck.

"Catherine!" The man who rolled down the window exclaimed excitedly. Skye returned the smile and opened the back door. She climbed in and waved her hand for Jemma to follow. She didn't understand what was going on, but she trusted Skye.

"Where have you been? And who's your friend here?" The man asked as he began driving again. He was a young man dressed in flannel and jeans. His curly red hair poked out from underneath his baseball cap. He seemed friendly enough, he seemed pretty excited to see Skye, and not for perverted reasons. Jemma finally realized that 'Catherine' was Skye when Skye responded to him.

"Oh, you know, out and about. This is my childhood best friend, Jasmine." The lies poured out of Skye's mouth so easily that Jemma almost believed them. She could see how good of an undercover agent she was, she was one of the most amazing on-the-spot actresses she had ever seen.

"Well hey there, Jasmine." Jemma responded to the man with a quiet smile. He chuckled at her silence and continued conversing with who he thought was a girl named Catherine.

"Do you mind dropping us off at the apartment instead of the diner?" Skye asked him. "Jasmine and I have had a long day and we're pretty tired." Skye told him. Jemma was already nervous about the situation, so when the truck rolled over a large pothole and jerked Jemma reflexively reached over and grabbed Skye's hand. Skye gave her an odd look and Jemma retracted her hand quickly. She also felt extremely stupid.

"No problem. But r'ya sure it's 'cause you're tired that you want to go to the apartment while Ashley's at work?" An amused grin was on the man's face when he saw them in the back seat. Jemma blushed furiously at what he was insinuating. Jemma wouldn't dare to think about that... but she realized she may have thought it at least once.

When she looked over at Skye's face she was horrified to see a frown there. If she had had any chance at all with Skye it was ruined now. And who was this Ashley person that Skye apparently lived with? Was she Skye's girlfriend or something? She was probably Ward's contact, the one he went to when we were looking for Skye.

"Ok, Ryan, you caught me." Skye told him. Jemma gave Skye a confused look. She had been wondering how big a web of lies Skye could weave before it got ruined. Jemma guessed it had just gotten destroyed.

"She's not my friend. She's my cousin." Skye said.

_I take it back, _Jemma thought. _She's a very talented spider._

"Cat has family?!" Ryan asked in humorous, mock shock.

"Well everyone came from somewhere." Skye grinned.

"But you don't look anything alike." he stated. Jemma finally spoke up. She was supposed to be protecting Skye from Centipede, Skye was their target. Not the other way around. She felt she at least had to contribute.

"My dad and her mum are adoptive siblings." Jemma told Ryan. Skye smiled at her and Jemma's heart swelled. She knew Skye was impressed and proud of her.

"So she speaks! And she's British! Why didn't you tell me you have a British cousin?" Ryan asked.

"She doesn't much like to talk about her family." Jemma said. Ryan continued to stare at Jemma with a weird expression. He seemed to be infatuated by her accent.

"Sorry, I don't mean to stare. In a small town like ours we don't have much diversity. Everyone looks like everyone else. Cat's about the most exotic person we've got." A small smile played across Skye's face when her friend described her as exotic.

"Here we are." Ryan said as he parked next to a tiny apartment complex that probably held no more than ten apartments. Relief flooded through Jemma, she just wanted out of that car.

"Thanks Ryan. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow, I'll have your usual ready at eight." Skye told him as she hopped out of the car. Ryan saw Jemma's confusion and explained as she got out of the truck.

"Your cousin's the most loved waitress in town." He said. "Heck, she's probably the most loved person in this town." He called out the window as he drove away. Skye must have been really popular, she'd worked out quite a life. She stayed in a small town but didn't hide herself, the perfect way to stay unfound by people searching for someone that's hiding.

Jemma turned around and walked quickly to catch up with Skye, who was already fumbling with a set of keys in a door.

By the time Jemma caught up, Skye was already pushing through the door. She immediately walked into one of the two bedrooms and collapsed on her stomach on the bed.

As Jemma walked into the room behind Skye she recognized her scent. It was the same subtle flower scent that Skye's bunk used to smell like. The smell made her tense muscles relax immediately.

Jemma sat down on the bed next to Skye.

"I have to wait for Ashley to come home so I can tell her I'm leaving." Skye mumbled into the light brown comforter on the bed.

"You have to move because of us, don't you?" Jemma asked guiltily.

"I loved my life here. I loved it even more than being on the bus." Skye confided in Jemma as she sat up. The two girls sat Indian style facing each other on the bed. Jemma was offended that Skye didn't prefer to be with her, but she also understood. All Skye had wanted her entire life was a family and a normal life, which she clearly had in this quaint little town. She had a roommate who was possibly a love interest, she had a job and a place to live in that didn't have wheels. She had _friends._ That was something Jemma would have killed for. Skye and Fitz were her only real close friends, and she only had Fitz after Skye had disappeared. She loved being friends with Fitz, but sometimes it was fun to not talk about science. It was fun to curl up and watch a chick flick. She couldn't do that with Fitz.

"I'm really sorry, Skye." Jemma told her. Skye smiled and hugged Jemma close. Jemma was shocked at first, but she returned the hug with loving arms.

Skye them proceeded to tell Jemma everything she told Ward earlier, and Jemma rubbed Skye's arm every few seconds and pretended that she was hearing it all for the first time.

"How did you say you got out?" Jemma asked. This question was a question in disguise. She did want to know how Skye got out, but she also needed to know if her device gave her any other powers. She would have had to use the powers to escape since she doesn't know how to fight yet, so this was the way to ask her.

"I didn't say. But it was simple really." Skye said as they finally pulled apart. Skye wiped away a few tears while she was recovering from remembering her story. Jemma raised her eyebrows to let Skye know she was interested and listening.

"They accidentally left the door unlocked on the room they were keeping me in." Skye told her. Jemma was surprised, she didn't think Centipede would make such a stupid mistake.

"Skye, we need to get out of here!" She suddenly yelled. Jemma took Skye's hand and pulled her off the bed.

"What? Why? I have to at least say good bye to Ashley first!" Skye protested.

"Skye, they _let_ you out." Jemma exclaimed. The look on Skye's face was horrified. Jemma knew that the only way Skye could have made it all the way out of wherever they were keeping her was if they let it happen.

"Why would they do that?" Skye asked. Jemma's brain was already working, connecting pieces of puzzles they hadn't even opened the boxes to.

"I think they were trying to store you somewhere safe until they wanted you." Jemma said. Skye finally complied as Jemma dragged her towards the door. "Which means they probably know we're here."

When Jemma threw open the apartment door, both girls jumped backwards when they found themselves staring Ashley in the face.

"Hey Jemma. Skye." Ashley smirked.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey Jemma. Skye." Ashley smirked.

"_You?!_" Skye asked in surprise. Tears were brimming in her eyes and Jemma tried to shield Skye with her body by putting her arms around her. Skye had clearly trusted this woman.

"They told me this would be useful." Ashley said as she pulled a pen out of her pocket. It looked exactly like the one she used to take orders at the diner, just an ordinary pen. Jemma recognized it as a syringe when Ashley clicked the button and a small needle poked out.

"Find a way out!" Jemma shoved Skye away from her and stood ready for Ashley to come at her. She could tell that she stood a chance because Ashley obviously wasn't a good fighter. She looked like she didn't have much muscle, maybe not even as much as the average woman.

Skye wasn't going to let Jemma get hurt because of her. This was exactly what Skye feared when her friends had found her. She feared that one of them was going to get hurt protecting her, and now her nightmare was becoming reality. It was worse that it was Jemma. If anyone on the bus was her favorite, it was Jemma. When Ashley's fist collided with Jemma's face, a blind rage encased Skye's mind, blocking all rational thought.

She didn't know how to fight, but she charged at Ashley anyway. Ashley's back crashed into the wall beside the open front door and Skye struggled to keep her there. As Skye drew back her fist she forgot about the friend she had been living with for the last six months, another friend who she began to trust that betrayed her. Skye threw her fist into Ashley's jaw with as much force as she could manage, not noticing the prick in the side of her neck.

Jemma noticed it though. As soon as she recovered from her blow she saw Skye and Ashley struggling against each other. When she saw Ashley shove the needle into Skye's neck, a cold feeling washed over her entire body. What was disguised as ink flowed out of the pen and into Skye's veins.

Jemma wanted to help, but she didn't know how. She did her best and ran over to help put in a few hits because Skye was getting noticeably weaker.

Skye let her fury take complete control as she pounded hit after hit into Ashley's stomach. Skye thought Ashley had been her friend, her first normal friend. She thought Ashley was a kind person who would help someone on the street. Skye wondered how many others of the friends she had in town were set up. Was Ryan's mission to bring Skye back to the apartment? If she hadn't hopped in his car, would he have made them?

Skye's vision blurred and she shook her head to clear it, but only brought on a wave of dizziness and nausea.

Jemma stopped attacking Ashley for just a moment to take a glance at Skye, her body was slowly shutting down. This was a mistake. Ashley took the opportunity and wrapped a free arm around Skye's head and pulled her close, holding her in a headlock and preventing her from breathing.

"Step back, Dr. Simmons." Ashley commanded, knowing she'd won control over the situation. Jemma did as she was told, but only because she didn't want to see Skye continue to choke and gasp for air. As the effects of whatever drug was put into Skye's system began to take hold, Skye fell limply to the floor.

Jemma knew she had lost now. She wouldn't be able to get out with Skye if her friend was unconscious.

"Take her into there." Ashley told Jemma, motioning to a nearby closet. Ashley's hair, which was in a neat bun moments earlier, was now messy and strands were hanging across her face.

Without taking her eyes off of Ashley for fear of being attacked, Jemma locked her arms under Skye's shoulders and dragged her inside the closet, which Ashley promptly closed and locked. Jemma couldn't help but be annoyed at Skye for not finding it suspicious that her friend had a nearly empty closet with a lock on the door.

"Skye, can you hear me?" Jemma kneeled next to Skye and tapped her cheek. Skye didn't respond, her head just fell to the side. Jemma pulled Skye onto her lap and hugged her body close. Jemma didn't feel it was wrong at all, she wanted to be close to Skye and this was as close as possible. Jemma leaned back against the wall and inhaled the scent of Skye's hair as Skye's body fell against hers. Jemma pulled her sleeve over the back of her hand and tried to wipe the tear streaks off of both of their faces. She hoped Ward didn't wait until those twenty four hours were over to come looking. God, she hoped Ward was still alive.

Maybe Coulson, May, and Fitz would return to the bus earlier than expected. They had been off trying to catch the two gifted people they were after before Ward found Skye, and they hadn't been present for the last few major events.

Jemma waited silently in the closet cradling Skye, checking her vitals every ten minutes to make sure the drug wasn't harming her. It took three hours for Skye to finally stir. Jemma hadn't felt Skye move, but when she looked down she was staring into Skye's round eyes. Neither of them said anything for a minute, they just held eye contact.

Skye was the first to move. She sat up and Jemma immediately missed the contact between them. Though it surprised Jemma when Skye only moved to lean against her and rest her head on Jemma's shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" Jemma whispered, not particularly wanting Ashley to know that Skye was awake.

"I feel drugged." Skye mumbled groggily. A small smile crept onto Jemma's face. Without thinking, Jemma turned to her right and kissed the top of Skye's head, which was still on her shoulder. Jemma was stunned and she mentally cursed herself, she kept acting on these feelings unwillingly. What if she scared Skye off and they couldn't be friends again?

She felt stupid that she kept doing things exactly like Ward, as if she was trying to catch up. Skye told him about the eight months and then he kissed her on the head, and she just did the same thing. What was wrong with her? Jemma was annoyed with herself for acting so childishly.

But much to Jemma's delight, Skye didn't react badly. Instead she took a deep, satisfied breath.

"Hey Jemma?" Skye asked.

"Hm?" Jemma acknowledged her as she tucked her chin over Skye's head.

"You're a much better friend than Ashley." She said. Jemma could tell Skye was completely out of it because of the drugs. She knew Skye's mind wasn't working the same way it usually did. That's why Jemma felt so guilty later about what she had done.

Jemma moved out from underneath Skye even though she protested childishly and took her face in her hands. Jemma slowly moved in and pressed her lips against Skye's. Her lips were round and soft, and Jemma loved kissing Skye more than she'd ever thought she loved kissing guys when she was still in the shield academy. Skye responded, but not sexually. Skye giggled. Jemma pulled away and when she looked into Skye's bright eyes, even though the closet was dark she knew she wasn't really kissing Skye. If Skye didn't will it to happen, it didn't count.

"Girls don't kiss girls." Skye laughed, poking Jemma in the arm. Jemma definitely knew then that Skye was _not_ a lesbian and that she'd probably just lost her friend. Jemma was worried that as soon as the drugs wore off of Skye she would realize that Jemma took advantage of her and Skye probably would never speak to her again.

"But I think I like it." Skye added, looking up with her eyes as if in deep thought and catching her bottom lip between her teeth. Jemma snapped to attention. There was maybe a _sliver_ of a chance that Skye _maybe_ felt the same way.

When Skye's eyebrows furrowed and her mouth twisted into a frown, Jemma's heart dropped down to her stomach. _The drugs were wearing off._ When she saw the ignorant cloudiness disappear from Skye's eyes, Jemma knew she was looking at the real Skye, the one who was probably about to react very badly. But she was silent.

Jemma figured she didn't have anything to lose, Skye clearly knew what Jemma had done by the way she was staring at her, so she took a leap of faith. She leaned in towards Skye hesitantly and placed one hand on one of Skye's cheeks. Jemma felt an explosion of emotions radiating off the both of them when Skye leaned in as well. When their lips touched for the second time, Jemma felt even more overwhelmed than the first time.

Skye was amazed. When she had finally escaped her drugged haze, the first thing she remembered was that Jemma kissed her and the first thing she wanted to do was do it again. She stared at Jemma, trying to figure out if what she thought just happened actually happened, and she admitted to herself that she hoped it had. She had never even thought about Jemma in this way, but all she wanted to do right now was either stare into her eyes or share the air she was breathing.

When Jemma leaned in, Skye's breath hitched in her throat, and when Jemma gently placed her hand on Skye's cheek, Skye's brain went halogen. When Jemma kissed her Skye responded immediately, her body acting before her brain told her what was ok.

Skye's hand went to Jemma's waist and she moved closer to Jemma so that they no longer looked like two awkward giraffes kissing each other. Both of their bodies were pressed against one another, generating heat as they each fought for dominance of the kiss.

Jemma pulled back for an instant, for two reasons. One, to make sure Skye was ok with what she was doing, and two, to take a breath, because kissing Skye had knocked it right out of her.

Jemma had been dreaming about this moment without knowing it for months, so she wanted to make sure Skye wasn't doing it under the influence of an unknown drug. She stared into Skye's eyes and just knew that Skye was feeling exactly the same as her.

Just before Jemma could finally, truly act on her feelings, the closet door swung open with force. Skye flew into Jemma's arms while they were still on the ground and Jemma could feel Skye's entire body shaking when she saw a woman in a lab coat holding a gun surrounded by a few very built men. Skye was gripping Jemma so tightly and shaking so badly that Jemma was surprised Skye hadn't wet her pants yet. When Jemma took a second look at the woman who instilled so much fear in Skye, she recognized something.

_"Skye, take this." Ward shoved a gun into Skye's hands and handed another to Jemma. They had real bullets in them. Skye quickly glanced at Jemma's gun and then up to her face. Jemma was hurt when she saw a tiny flicker of hesitation or fear in Skye's eyes._

Simmons realized why she saw that fear in Skye's eyes, Jemma had been wearing a lab coat at the time and she probably looked a lot like the woman staring at them now with interested eyes.

The woman nodded towards Jemma and Skye. Two of her men entered the room. One of them tore a screaming Skye from Jemma's arms while the other held Jemma to the ground. Jemma wasn't even worried for her own safety, she was so concerned for Skye. When Skye wouldn't stop struggling, the man roughly threw her to the ground.

"Skye!" Jemma called out. The man who attacked Skye held her on the ground in the same position as Jemma, on her stomach with her hands pulled together behind her back and the side of her face pressed against the carpet. The two were facing each other, and Jemma's eye contact quieted Skye's protests. Hand cuffs were placed on Skye's wrists and Jemma could see the Skye she knew quickly disappearing and the terrified one Ward found slowly coming back to the surface.

The woman saw the way the two girls looked at each other, so when the a guard pointed a gun at Jemma to cross her off, the woman held out her hand to stop them. The woman walked over to the man holding Skye to face Jemma as the man lifted her, struggling, to her feet. Before the woman even laid a hand on Skye Jemma could see Skye clench her jaw and try fruitlessly to pull away.

The woman backhanded Skye roughly in the face and Jemma struggled against the man restraining her in fury.

"Don't touch her!" Jemma growled. The woman smiled with satisfaction at Jemma's reaction walked over to her, only stopping when her shoe was right next to Jemma's face.

"Bring her along, she could be of much use." The woman spoke for the first time since entering the scene, and the emotionless tone of it sent a chill down Jemma's spine. She could only imagine what memories the voice brought up for Skye. Jemma didn't even want to think about it.

Cold metal handcuffs were placed on Jemma's wrists and she was yanked onto her feet. As they left, Jemma glared at Ashley, who was being handed an envelope undoubtedly full of payment.


	6. Chapter 6

Ward knew he couldn't take them all, there were too many. He had put up a good fight, but the mass of soldiers got him to put his hands in the air when there were at least five guns trained on him at once.

One soldier who seemed to be throwing around orders waved for them to go ahead and shoot Ward and he closed his eyes, preparing for the end. He heard a gunshot, but it didn't hit him. He heard another. And ten more.

Ward opened his eyes to find that May, Coulson and Fitz had driven up to the cargo hold, having come back early. Fitz was trembling in the car, but May and Coulson took down the majority of the soldiers before they even turned to look. Ward jumped into action and the three of them quickly eliminated the threat.

"Where's Simmons?" Fitz called as he ran over from the jeep, once it was safe of course.

"She and Skye are gone, I told them to run." Ward explained, wiping some blood off of his busted lip.

"That was probably best. Do you know where they are?" May asked him.

Then Ward realized something terrible. He knew exactly where Skye would take Simmons. She would try to run home. But Ward knew that centipede knew she was there. He realized that since Skye can't fight, she wouldn't have escaped centipede unless they intended for her to do so. And he knew that they were trying to make her stay with Ashley. The laser he saw on the table in the diner wasn't from the people they were trying to catch, it was from centipede, who wanted to eliminate him so he didn't take Skye with him. Him taking Skye back to the bus is what put them on offense, what made them want to bring Skye back into custody.

"I have an idea." Ward said sadly.

When Ward, May, Coulson, and Fitz finally made it to the diner, they followed the customer's instructions to get to Ashley's apartment. Apparently everybody knew everybody in the town.

Ward didn't wait for Ashley to answer the door, he kicked it down.

"I know you're here Ashley, where is Skye?" Ward called. The others follow behind him as he entered the apartment.

"You're too late. She was here, but a bunch of people came and took her. I tried to stop them." Ashley said as he stepped out of a bedroom, exposing her black eye. Ward didn't know that it was Skye that gave it to her in an attempt to keep Simmons safe.

"Come on guys, Skye's not here." Coulson told his team as he led them back out to the jeep.

"Do you think Simmons and Skye are still together?" Fitz asked no one in particular. They all faced him in the back seat.

"The necklace I gave Simmons for her birthday, the one she always wears, I put a tracker in it." Fitz told them.

"You're a genius Fitz! Can you track it?!" Coulson asked.

"The computer I need is back at the bus." Fitz informed him.

"Then we're going back to the bus." May said as she started the car and started driving in the right direction.

* * *

"Just do what we ask, and this can all be over." The doctor woman told Skye as she circled her chair.

"Skye, don't do it!" Jemma shouted at her. It appeared that Skye couldn't hear her, she looked as if she was in a trance when she was plugged in. A wire ran from the now glowing device on the back of her neck to a large computer sitting on the plain table behind her. Skye's chair was facing Jemma, and Jemma could see Skye's eyes glowing an unnatural orange color, like the technology is installed much deeper than her neck. Skye's wrists were tied to the arms of the chair, she didn't need them to hack anymore. Jemma was tied up as well, and she'd long since given up tugging against her restraints.

"I'll offer you a deal. If you delete all of SHIELD's files, we won't ask you to give us a copy. Just destroy them." The doctor stood directly in front of Skye, blocking her from Jemma's view. Sweat began to show over Jemma's brow, she was terrified that something would happen to one of them.

Jemma couldn't tell where they were, but she knew that they weren't at ground level because she couldn't see anything but blue sky and clouds outside the window near the ceiling.

"Just hack their systems, you've done it before!" The doctor hissed. "And don't try to send them any messages, your guard knows a little about hacking and he'll know if you try." she warned Skye. When she still didn't respond, the doctor's hand jerked slightly and Jemma flinched. The woman took a step away from Skye and an animalistic growl escaped Jemma's throat when she saw the blood leaking from a cut on Skye's cheek. Skye didn't seem fazed though. Jemma assumed that was Skye's way of coping.

Skye tried to make herself not present, she tried to mentally put herself somewhere else. She couldn't give a reaction or it would never stop.

"Guess it's time to finally put you to use." The woman slowly walked towards Jemma, each footstep making a loud noise as her boot hit the tile floor.

For the first time since they gained consciousness in the room, Jemma saw Skye's eyes move. They flickered over to her for just a second. The doctor noticed this and smirked as she approached Jemma. Jemma didn't expect the blow, so when the fist of the woman beside her made contact with her jaw, Jemma's head flew to the side.

Jemma's head spun, but all she could allow herself to focus on was Skye. Skye pulled against her restrains suddenly. The doctor threw another punch at Jemma and the screen behind Skye flickered, to life, windows popping up everywhere to prepare for the hack.

"Don't do it Skye." Jemma said warningly as she spit a small amount of blood out of her mouth.

"We just had that carpet done." The doctor complained sarcastically as she moved back towards Skye. The woman held the same knife she used on Skye earlier in her hands to press against the skin on Skye's forearm until it popped and blood came rushing out. This was when Jemma noticed that Skye's sleeves were pulled up to her shoulders and her hands were tied in such a way that the scarred underside of her arms was exposed.

A single tear escaped Skye's eye as she closed them both. Jemma wished there was something she could do.

The woman leaned in close until her face was an inch from Skye's ear.

"Just complete the hack." She muttered into Skye's ear. Skye visibly shook as her face paled. Jemma was furious that this woman could be so cruel to someone as childlike and innocent as Skye.

The doctor, who noticed everything, could see Jemma pulling as far out of her seat as she could towards Skye.

"Cut her loose." the brunette woman ordered one of her men, nodding towards Jemma. They did as they were told and cut the zip ties confining her.

"You have half an hour to convince her to finish that hack, or I'll make you witness her slow, bloody murder while I search for a more compliant hacker." The woman threatened as she exited the room with most of her men, slamming the large door behind her. The one guard that was tech savvy stayed in the room to make sure Skye didn't contact anyone.

Jemma ran over to Skye's chair and collapsed onto her knees.

"Hey, hey. Shh, it's ok." Jemma whispered to Skye as she hugged Skye's head to her chest and ran her hand through Skye's hair. Skye was sobbing, but the steady thumping of Jemma's heartbeat calmed her.

"What am I supposed to do? If I delete those files I'm destroying SHIELD and betraying my team, but if I don't she'll kill us both." Skye cried.

"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I think you need to delete those files." Simmons told Skye. Jemma wanted to release Skye, but she couldn't break the zip ties around Skye's wrists with her bare hands.

"Are you crazy? I can't do that." Skye whispered. Jemma focused on the one thing she could do, bandaging Skye's arm. Jemma ripped off some of the hem of her own flowery shirt to wrap around Skye's bloody arm.

Skye flinched when Jemma tied it off, but she had to tie it tight enough to apply a little pressure. Jemma knew what the look on Skye's face begged Jemma to do, so she gently tugged Skye's sleeves back into place. If she could provide Skye with any comfort, no matter how small, she would.

"I hate to do it Skye, but I'm begging you to delete those files, because I can't lose you." Jemma told Skye as calmly as possible, trying not to get choked up.

Tears were freely flowing now, from both girls. Jemma couldn't stop staring at Skye's eyes; the glow frightened her. It looked as if Skye was possessed.

"I can't do that." Skye responded, stubborn as ever. Jemma looked away for a moment to take a breath, then stared back into Skye's eyes. Jemma kneeled between Skye's knees and placed her hands on Skye's.

"If you don't do it they'll kill you and make another super hacker to do it. It will be done anyway, your choice is whether or not you want us to live." When Skye still didn't respond, Jemma placed one hand on the back of Skye's neck, careful to avoid the device, and pulled Skye's head closer until their foreheads touched. Jemma's other hand moved to Skye's neck and she could feel her rapid pulse.

"Please." Jemma breathed.

"Jem, there's a back door." Skye whispered, so quietly that Jemma wasn't sure she heard it. For a moment she was hung up on the fact that Skye called her Jem, but the second part instilled her with some hope. Skye had a plan. And Skye's plans usually worked. She remembered Skye's amazing solo mission to deceive Ian Quinn.

The screen behind Skye buzzed to life. Within seconds a bar started traveling across a long window, symbolizing the progress of the files being deleted.

"See Skye, that's it. It's going to be fine, we're going to be ok now." Jemma urged Skye to keep going because she could see the pain in Skye's eyes. She couldn't tell if it was physical, emotional, or both, but Skye was hurting.

When the bar was finally at the end and the hack was completed, Skye let out a huge breath and panted as if it had taken actual physical exertion.


	7. Chapter 7

"Everything's gone! I think Skye did what she was told." Fitz told the team. They all held their breath. Everything was gone. SHIELD was gone, along with every record of it that was ever kept.

But Coulson didn't wonder how Skye could have done it, he wondered what they did to her that would convince her to do it, when she held out for two months last time. He shuddered at the thought.

"There's nothing we can do about that now. Can you still track Simmons?" Coulson asked Fitz. He knew everything had just changed, but they had nothing to lose now. And if there was any tiny chance of getting the files back, Skye would know what it was.

"Of course, my tracking program isn't part of SHIELD, it's just regular tech." He answered.

"Guys, give me a little space." Fitz complained as he typed on his computer.

Coulson, May, and Ward were hovering over his shoulder while he was sitting in a black chair.

"You have enough!" Ward told him in an annoyed tone, urging him to get back to work.

"Oh? Oh really? Then how do I know the last thing you ate was a peanut butter sandwich?" Fitz asked. Each of them took a step back to let Fitz do his thing.

"Got it!" Fitz suddenly exclaimed as a pulsing red dot appeared on a map on his screen.

"Are you kidding me?" Coulson asked. They could all see that Jemma's necklace was in a small hotel in the same town Skye had been living in for the past eight months.

"Suit up. We're leaving ASAP." Coulson gave the order.

Fitz was terrified. When he was working without Simmons he was a nervous wreck. His hands shook and he could not keep on track. He was so worried that something had happened to Simmons he almost forgot to bring his computer into the van to continue tracking her.

He was scared for Skye, he really was, but he couldn't even think about her right now. She hadn't been in their lives for the last eight months, but it felt like Simmons had always been there.

As soon as the three of them were in the van the tires were skidding as May reversed down the ramp and sped onto the road.

The inside of the vehicle was dead silent and everyone was upset. Even May had on her emotionless I'm-pretending-not-to-be-worried face, instead of the regular emotionless expression she portrayed.

"Something's wrong!" Fitz alerted the rest of the team as teh hotel drew nearer.

Not only had Fitz programmed her necklace to be a tracker, but since it hung right in front of her heart, he also designed it to track her vitals.

"Her heart rate is spiking and she's on the move!" Fitz said as he watched the tiny red dot that was Simmons running around inside the building.

"What do you mean?" Ward asked.

"She's running from something." May answered for Fitz, stony faced. None of them knew what they were about to run into blindly, but they had to save their teammates, it was top priority. Especially after they let Skye slip through their grasp once before and were determined to earn her trust again.

"What is she doing?" Fitz wondered aloud. Simmons was doubling back, running in the direction she just came from. Fitz hoped Simmons and Skye weren't doing anything stupid. He felt guilty later for thinking it, but he hoped Skye wasn't making Simmons do anything stupid. He knew Simmons would do whatever Skye asked, Simmons liked doing what people told her.

Everyone jumped in their seats when an alarm on Fitz's computer sounded.

"What was that?" Coulson asked in concern.

"Simmons' necklace, the connection is gone." Fitz informed them.

Fitz knew this could only mean one of two things: Simmons' necklace was broken or she was dead.

* * *

The woman wearing the lab coat walked back in, carrying scissors in her hand instead of a knife to show she had good intentions, or at least her idea of them.

She cut Skye free and disconnected her from the computer by removing the wire from her centipede device. Skye's eyes quickly faded back to their original brown color as they stopped glowing.

Neither girl moved, spoke, or even breathed for the next moment.

"You're free to go. You've served your purpose." The woman actually smiled as she gestured to the open door. She ordered her guard to leave to assure her 'guests' that she wasn't lying.

"Unless of course you'd like to stay and support the cause." She told them. But Jemma was still suspicious. Did they really not need Skye anymore?

Everything else left her mind though when Skye threw her arms around Jemma's neck.

Everywhere Skye's skin made contact with hers felt like fire and ice at the same time.

Jemma returned the hug, ignoring the still nameless scientist and wrapping her arms around Skye's thin waist. Skye's hair brushed against Jemma's face, but as much as she just wanted to enjoy the moment, she couldn't, because she could feel how tense Skye's entire body was. Skye obviously knew something Jemma didn't, and Jemma didn't like it. She was used to being the knowledgeable one.

"Just get out before I change my mind and decide I can use each of you to force the other to be useful." The doctor sighed at the girls hesitance and Jemma shuddered at the thought of anyone tying Skye to anything ever again.

As soon as they were both on their feet they glanced at each other one last time before walking towards the door, looking behind them to make sure the doctor wasn't going to yell 'Just kidding!', pull out a gun, and shoot them.

Before they even made it half way through the door, Skye cried out in pain and collapsed to her hands and knees.

"Skye? Skye, what's wrong?" Jemma began to panic, but the doctor watched with both interest and confusion. Jemma immediately assumed the worst thing imaginable: that the technology implanted in Skye was backfiring, like Mike's did in the train station after she and Skye met.

"Skye, look at me!" Jemma ordered as she grabbed Skye's face in her hands and forced Skye to look her in the eye. When a drop of blood soaked into the carpet beneath Skye, Jemma rushed o find the source. She moved her hands from Skye's head to look for whatever wound had been opened, but her hands were already stained red. With two fingers she gently turned Skye's head. Blood was leaking from Skye's ears, which meant something could be wrong with her brain.

"What did you people do to her?!" Jemma screamed furiously. She wouldn't know how to fix Skye until she knew what was wrong with her.

"That... shouldn't happen." The woman said, puzzled, as she walked closer avoiding the blood.

"Jemma-" Skye whispered urgently. Skye was trying to tell her something important, but she couldn't do it with the she-devil listening to her every word.

So instead Skye pushed herself to her feet, despite the pain in her head that felt like it had been run over by a bull dozer and despite Jemma's protests. She continued to exit, she was eager to take the doctor's offer before it was retracted.

"Run." Skye whispered as a buzz came over the walkie-talkie.

"M'am! I just double checked the results of the hack! The files have not been deleted, the files have not been deleted!" The three women heard from the device. Jemma gave Skye a questioning look as they began to walk faster.

"She hacked the computer to make the screen display the image of deleting everything, but the files have been transferred somewhere!" The doctor's minion yelled through the walkie-talkie.

Both Jemma and their captor looked to the blood running in a small stream out of Skye's ears.

"Skye, you didn't..." Jemma had a terrified and amazed look on her face and a mischievous smile showed on Skye's.

"I did. Now run like hell before my head explodes." Skye said as the doctor pulled a gun from her belt and began shooting at them.

Jemma could feel Skye quickly falling behind because of the pain she was feeling, so Jemma grabbed Skye's hand in hers and dragged her along as they dodged bullets and continued running down the hall.

The hall split into two directions ahead of them, and Jemma didn't like the idea forming in Skye's eyes.

"She can't chase both of us. Whoever she doesn't pick gets help." Skye informed Jemma of her plan, the one that involved Jemma getting out safely and Skye getting chased to her death because she's now the world's biggest flash drive.

But Skye was right, if Jemma didn't leave her to get help, they would both die. Neither of them could fight and the woman chasing them clearly had experience with killing people. So Jemma nodded, taking a right as Skye ran left.

As predicted, the woman ran after Skye, eager to put a bullet in the brain that somehow held every piece of information SHIELD ever typed on a computer.

* * *

Skye's plan didn't really cover the time after the doctor, Debbie, the girl she recording Mike saving, found out what she had done. She figured she'd wing it. Her only worry had been Jemma's safety. She knew she was screwed for life, so her two objectives were to protect Jemma and give saving the files her best shot.

Skye recognized the building as some kind of small hotel, and she was on the second floor.

In horror Skye realized that the hallway she was running down was a dead end, and Debbie was too close behind for Skye to go back.

Skye ran over to the window and threw it open, looking down over the edge. She was both relieved and terrified to see an empty hotel pool on the ground beneath the window. She was terrified of water, it had taken a lot of courage for her to jump off that balcony at Ian Quinn's party.

She wasn't one for irrational fear, she wasn't afraid of something unless there was a reason to fear it.

In one of Skye's foster homes she had an older foster brother who tried to drown her in their pool outside, and after that every time her head was submerged, she remembered the pain of the water forcefully entering her lungs and the hands that pressed against her, keeping her from reaching the surface.

But she jumped anyway. A bullet flew over her head from the window as she plummeted downwards. The force of hitting the water from such a height knocked the wind right out of her and sent her gasping for breath.

But Skye hadn't escaped, a splash sounded beside her and next thing she knew, something yanked her downwards by her foot. Skye let out a scream before she was underwater, silently struggling with the woman trying to kill her.

Every time Skye managed to get her face above the water Debbie dragged her back under.

The two fought for dominance, whoever was winning and holding the other down was the only one who had access to oxygen.

Unfortunately, Skye couldn't swim, she hadn't been swimming since she was a kid, so Debbie had the upper hand in the situation. Debbie's arms wrapped around Skye's torso, pinning her arms to her sides and preventing her from being able to move completely.

Without warning Debbie dove underwater and took Skye with her. Debbie had quickly noticed that Skye couldn't swim and knew she would be able to hold her breath long after Skye would fall unconscious.

All Skye could see as she was pinned to the bottom of the pool was the air bubbles coming from her own mouth and floating to the surface of the blue liquid, which seemed so far away.

Skye was about to give up and close her eyes, but she noticed that the two had drifted towards the edge of the pool while fighting, and Skye's shoulder was almost touching the wall.

In one swift movement, or as swift as movement can be underwater, Skye slipped one arm out of Debbie's grasp, pressed her palm against the doctor's head, and pushed towards the wall with as much force as she could. Blood contaminated the water and spread quickly as Skye felt the weight lift off her chest and her lungs burn inside.

Skye knew the next thing she had to do was get up to the surface, but she was too damn tired and her vision was already fading to black.

* * *

Jemma hated running the opposite direction, away from Skye. Away from the girl she might just admit she was falling for, the girl who would probably need her help in a matter of seconds. Jemma couldn't turn her back and run, by the time she could find a way to contact the team, contact them, and wait for them to get here, wherever here is, Skye would be dead.

The splash Jemma heard behind her was the final deal breaker. Jemma turned on her heels and sprinted to find Skye.

Horrible thoughts were playing through Jemma's head, images of Skye's dead body. Several images, with multiple causes of death.

When Jemma reached the window and stuck her head out, her worst fears became reality.

"Skye!" The agonized shriek that escaped Jemma's mouth would have made the hairs rise on the back of anyone's neck. The scream was guttural and animalistic, terrified and mournful and harrowing.

Skye, along with the doctor that attacked her, were floating face down in the pool. Jemma couldn't tell whose it was, but she saw blood in the water.

Jemma didn't hesitate to jump out of the window, the danger didn't even cross her mind, her only goal was to reach Skye before she was deprived of oxygen for long enough to kill her.

"Skye!" Jemma sobbed as she swam to retrieve her friend. Jemma pulled Skye's body into what looked like a hug to drag her over to the steps of the pool. Skye's head laid limply on Jemma's shoulder as she swam, and Jemma didn't like how cold and lifeless Skye's body felt.

Jemma struggled to drag Skye out of the pool once it got shallow and Skye grew heavier, but she managed to get Skye onto the concrete bordering the pool. Without hesitating Jemma went into doctor mode, thrusting her hands down against Skye's chest and stopping after the allotted amount of time to try and push air into her lungs.

The connection of Jemma and Skye's mouth felt nothing like a kiss, it was horrifying to Jemma and it almost made her want to throw up.

When Skye began to choke Jemma quickly turned her onto her side to make sure Skye actually got water out of her system instead of just swallowing it again.

Skye was gasping and Jemma assisted her in keeping her head a few inches off the ground, whispering words of comfort like "just breathe, deep breaths" and "you're ok".

Skye ended up lying in Jemma's lap as she continued to check her vitals over and over again to make sure Skye was stabilized.

Jemma was looking for any warning signs that Skye's tech was damaged, and Skye knew it.

"If a little water could damage that thing,-" Skye was interrupted by her own coughing fit, one that Jemma helped her get out by rubbing her back. "Then my hair would have been disgusting by now." Skye finished her joke. Jemma burst out laughing with happy tears filling her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah it would." Jemma sniffled as she held Skye close.


	8. Chapter 8

"Where did you say her signal was when it went out?" Ward asked as the team made their way through the hotel, which was suspiciously empty after taking down the few rounds of guards on the way. They were beginning to wonder if it was a hotel at all.

"On the left." Fitz pointed when they reached a split in the hallway. The same split Jemma and Skye had been at not too long before.

"Here?" Ward asked. Fitz nodded without taking his eyes off the tablet in his hands.

"This is a window Fitz." Coulson said. They were all afraid to look outside for fear that they would see Jemma below, dead. They could all imagine Jemma possibly being pushed out of it.

"Simmons." Fitz croaked when he finally looked out the window. There was a woman's body, wearing a lab coat, floating face down in the pool below. The team stood there staring for a few horrifying seconds before rushing back to the first floor.

"Jemma!" Fitz screamed as he ran out into the pool area with the rest of the team on his heels.

"I'm over here, quit yelling." Jemma called softly. Utter surprise and relief flooded over Fitz when he saw Simmons sitting on the ground to his left, with Skye in her lap.

For Ward, the relief of seeing Simmons alive quickly dissipated when he saw what she was doing. Tears were sparkling on Jemma's cheeks as she returned her attention to Skye. Skye was resting one side of her face on Jemma's thigh and her fists quivered as one clutched the material of Jemma's jeans above her knee and the other crushed Jemma's free hand.

Jemma was gently smoothing Skye's hair on her head, keeping it away from her exposed ear.

Skye's neck and chest were coated in blood that wouldn't stop flooding from her ears and a look of pain and agony was twisted on her face.

"What's wrong with her?" Coulson asked as he knelt next to her and ran a finger along Skye's cheek affectionately.

Ward received an unexpected glare from Jemma as she explained.

"Skye transferred every single SHIELD file and program into her own head because she didn't want everything we thought about her to be true." Ward knew it was directed mostly at him with May and Coulson tying in second place. He had been the hardest on her about it.

"Dear god." Fitz breathed. "We need to get Skye back to a main computer on the bus to dump all that info before her brain dies." Fitz told them. Simmons choked a little at the last statement.

May gently forced Skye to release Simmons so Ward could lift her, but before long Skye was softly whimpering. An unidentified negative feeling passed over Ward when his words of comfort didn't quiet her, but she hushed up and relaxed a little when Jemma took her hand again.

* * *

It took Fitz longer without Simmons' help, but he managed to get his hands on a wire that would fit Skye's needs. A makeshift hospital bed was in the computer room that held the main frame on the bus. Jemma refused to leave Skye's side. Neither did Ward, but he couldn't really play a part when it came to medical affairs, so he sat to the side and watched.

Jemma continued to clean the blood off of Skye until Fitz entered with the wire.

Ward stood and took a step closer when Skye cried out in pain. She was progressively getting worse. It was the simple act of lifting Skye's head to plug in the wire that made her cry out, and Jemma hated that she was hurting her.

As soon as Skye was plugged in securely, her eyes began to glow again.

"What's-"

"It's supposed to do that. That means it's working." Jemma interrupted him.

She didn't really like Ward right now, her jealousy was running wild. She was afraid that what happened between her and Skye didn't mean enough to her to stop her from running into Ward's open arms when she got up.

Jemma hadn't told the others about her second fear either, the fear that Jemma's guess may be correct. Jemma was worried what damage may be done to Skye's brain. She wished she was ignorant, that she wasn't a biochemist, so that she could believe, like Ward, that plugging Skye into the computer was a magic solution. Jemma had many theories about what might happen to Skye, all of which she hoped weren't true.

Skye might have to live the rest of her life plugged into a computer, her brain may not be able to function without it. Skye might have extensive brain damage not only from being a human flash drive, but from her near drowning. Jemma knew Skye's brain would be damaged, a brain doesn't hemorrhage as much as hers did without damage being done. All Jemma could hope was that the damage wasn't too bad.

Ward, Fitz, and Simmons all jumped in surprise when Skye let out an ear piercing shriek.

"It's downloading! Everything!" Fitz exclaimed as he furiously typed on his keyboard to see if he could help Skye along any.

Skye kept letting out awful screams. Her hands flew to her head and she curled up into fetal position on the hospital bed, wailing louder than humanly possible.

"Do something, Simmons!" Ward yelled at her as Jemma stood there, dumbfounded.

"There's nothing I can do for her medically at this point." Jemma winced as Skye let out another screech.

"Make her stop! Make her stop transferring the files!" Ward begged Jemma as he reached for Skye's hand, which she took gratefully and starting squeezing to death. Ward even cringed a little at the force.

"If I do that she'll die, she can't keep all that information in there!" Jemma yelled as she grabbed Skye's other hand. She was scouring her mind looking for a solution, but there was none.

"Sedate her?" Ward suggested. Tears were in his eyes as Skye writhed on the bed before them.

"If I do that she can't make the transfer." Jemma said quietly, defeated. She pressed a light kiss to the crown of Skye's head as the screaming continued. It felt like hours went by, the wails deafening everyone in the room.

Jemma felt useless, all she could do was comfort Skye while she was in so much pain. Seeing Skye screaming and sobbing while trying her best to finish the task was heartbreaking. None of this would have happened if they had just gone for her when she first went missing. It was all their faults, and Jemma knew Skye really had been betrayed by all her friends. Jemma didn't feel worthy of her any more, she felt that if she really did love Skye she wouldn't have listened to Coulson and Ward when they told her to turn off the tracker.

Jemma remembered when she first met Skye, she walked onto the bus from her van carrying a box and a few bags. From the very start Jemma had been intrigued. She remembered thinking that Skye didn't look like she lived in a van. She saw Skye's beautiful, brown, wavy hair framing her even more alluring face. Jemma realized she was whipped from the beginning.

Finally, it stopped. Skye's screams came to an end and her body was still, except for her heavy breathing. Her nose was bleeding very badly, but other than that she didn't seem any worse for wear.

"She did it! Skye did it! It's all here, SHIELD is back!" Fitz jumped up and down happily, but Jemma and Ward remained silent. Skye was unconscious.

_Comatose_ was the first word that entered Jemma's mind.


	9. Chapter 9

Skye was unconscious for a week. Coulson was depressed, Fitz was nervous, May was angry, Jemma was sleepless, and Ward was punching things.

Coulson and May could be found in his office trying to find people or in the honeycomb cell and interrogating them so they could find the head of the centipede with the intention of cutting it off.

After hearing Jemma's recollection of events, Coulson brought in Ashley, who May quickly beat the crap out of when Coulson wasn't keeping a watchful eye on her.

Fitzsimmons were together more often than not, often with Skye in the med pod. Fitz would attempt to take a look at Skye's technology while Simmons checked that her body was as it should be. Well, as it should be for a comatose patient.

Sometimes when Jemma was alone in the lab she would just sit in a chair next to Skye's bed and read silently, never releasing her hand. She didn't read out loud, the routine was for her own comfort. As a doctor she knew that Skye wasn't able to hear her, so being with Skye could only provide Jemma with comfort.

Jemma was still worried about Skye's brain damage, she had no way to know how extensive it was. She was hopeful that it wasn't too horrible, Skye was able to survive, after all, even if she was unconscious. She wasn't even able to give Skye an MRI because of god knows what installed in her head.

Ward was usually in the cargo hold, punching the punching bag relentlessly until his knuckles were red and bruised underneath his gloves. May had given up on calming him down days ago. Ward wanted to accompany Coulson and May on their missions, but Coulson would have none of it. Everyone knew his feelings for Skye compromised his abilities.

Jemma was especially aware of it. Ward had a feeling something was going on in Jemma's head, but it just didn't click for him. Clearly Jemma paid more attention to detail when it came to people during everyday life.

At least once a day, usually in the late afternoon, Ward brought Skye's old laptop (the one he put in a box eight months ago) to her room and talked to her about everything going on around the world in every social media site she had shortcuts to her on her desktop.

Jemma and Ward never visited Skye at the same time. It wasn't intentional, the two just never happened to go during the same time of day. Ward would go early in the morning before working out and Jemma would visit before bed.

But the last night of Skye's coma Jemma hadn't been able to sleep and was up all night, reading quietly. She had finished her third book at this point and began to reread the first one.

Ward came into the med pod at five thirty on the dot, as usual, but he found Simmons sitting on a chair holding Skye's hand with her nose in a book.

Ward wasn't going to let Simmons stop him though, he had to work out and he wasn't just going to skip talking to Skye either. Ward liked to imagine Skye's smile when he read about people gathering in other countries to stage peaceful protests, he knew Skye loved the clockwork of a group of people working together.

So Ward sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the bed and opened Skye's laptop, clicking the shortcut of the website he'd been reading first.

"She can't hear you." Jemma told him in annoyance when after half an hour he hadn't stopped reading the posts aloud.

"You just have to ruin everything, don't you, anything to show everyone you're smarter." Ward snapped at her. He didn't even realize how mean what he said was until it came out of his mouth. He was tired and annoyed that he wasn't getting his time alone with Skye, and he accidentally pinned everything on Jemma, just because she was in the room.

Jemma huffed and slammed her book shut in her lap before tucking Skye's hand back at her side.

"To prevent further argument, I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that." Simmons told him as she began to stand up.

"Jemma, wait-" Ward tried to stop her, but he didn't need to. Fitz burst into the room, still wearing stupid striped pajamas.

"I think I've got it!" Fitz shouted as he ran into the room carrying his lap top, Skye's wire, and a few other supplies.

"You've got what?" Jemma asked, suddenly very interested in staying in the med pod.

"Skye has had very computer like qualities since she got back, she plugs into things, stores memory, transfers files..." Fitz muttered as he gently plugged the wire into Skye.

"What are you getting at?" Jemma asked him. Ward glanced at Skye's body.

"She could have other parts of her brain that act like a computer. Computers turn off, don't they?" Fitz said excitedly.

"Are you suggesting that Skye has been shut off this entire time?" Ward asked, looking at the laptop and then at Skye as if the two were the same thing. Ward and Simmons both felt extremely frustrated that this solution hadn't been thought of sooner.

"Not exactly. I think the overflow of data she was carrying may have short circuited her centipede device." Fitz said. Simmons seemed to have caught on, but Ward wasn't exactly sure how they were going to fix her.

"If I can open her up a little, will you be able to fix her?" Simmons asked with excitement. Simmons was sure she would be able to help Fitz wake Skye up.

"As much as I don't want to see that, the answer is yes." Fitz nodded.

"What are you guys going to do?" Ward asked, wishing there was just an on button instead of Fitzsimmons having to do what he was pretty sure they were going to do.

"I'm going to expose some of the technology in Skye, and Fitz is going to find the problem and fix it." Simmons was already speaking quickly in the tone she uses when she's about to perform a procedure.

"And Simmons, make sure she's completely out, because if she's not she's going to wake up when I fix her." Fitz added as Simmons retrieved what she would need.

"Of course." She said as she grabbed the extra materials Fitz listed.

"Please inform Coulson of our plan, Ward." Simmons told him. Ward didn't want to leave, but he didn't want to see Simmons cut Skye open, either. So he rushed off to wake Coulson at six in the morning to tell him Fitzsimmons were going to wake up Skye.

* * *

"Alright. Let's get this over with." Simmons breathed. No matter how many times she'd done it, operating on people she cared about never got any easier. But this was going to wake Skye back up, so Simmons was perfectly willing to do the job.

Jemma was holding a small scalpel in her gloved hands as she stood over Skye, who was drugged and lying on her stomach. Jemma swallowed, she couldn't help but notice one of Skye's scars poking out from the neck of her shirt.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Fitz asked Simmons when he noticed her hesitation.

"I have to do this." Simmons told him.

Jemma moved Skye's hair off to one side, took a deep breath, and cut a small vertical line above Skye's centipede device, hoping that was where all the mechanics really were. As soon as Jemma parted the skin, she was worried that she had cut a wire. There were so many, masses of tiny wires spouted from the device attached to her neck and traveled up her neck. Jemma didn't even want to know how far the wires went.

She shuddered and stepped away, letting Fitz perform his part of the operation. Fitz stepped forward hesitantly, he didn't like blood or open cuts. But he sucked it up just this once, because he knew he had to fix her. Skye was his friend. Skye was Jemma's- well, Jemma's something, and Fitz wanted to make sure Skye was okay for Simmons as well.

"I can't see anything, the wires are all so tiny." Fitz told Simmons. Simmons fetched him a magnifying glass so that he could get back to work. Fitz had to pretend Skye was just a computer, or his emotions would get the best of him and he wouldn't be able to concentrate.

"I've got it." Fitz finally said, breaking the tension in Jemma as she waited to the side.

Fitz had a disconnected wire in a pair of tiny tweezers.

"Is it fixable?" Jemma asked nervously while wringing out her hands in front of her.

"Easily." Fitz told her. Jemma let out a huge breath, one she'd been holding for far too long.

"It's amazing," Fitz started. "It looks like it was designed to disconnect to prevent blowing the system." Fitz observed.

"Fitz, will you please just fix it?" Jemma pleaded with a hint of frustration. She was eager for Skye to be well again, so eager that she was beginning to take it out on her friend.

Fitz hadn't responded yet, and Jemma was beginning to grow majorly annoyed.

"Now is not the time to let your curiosity-"

"It's done Simmons!" Fitz said before peeling off his gloves and clamping his hands down on Jemma's shoulders. Fitz smiled at the expression on his partner's face.

"She'll be up and running soon, you better patch her up." He suggested softly.

As soon as Jemma steadied her hands she stitched the incision on Skye's neck. Together Fitzsimmons returned her to a normal, comfortable position on the bed.

Fitz left to gather the others so that everyone could be present, so when Skye awoke she would find herself in a room full of friends. Jemma stayed behind, to detach all of the equipment that had been used to support Skye during her short coma and prepared herself mentally to greet Skye for the first normal time, without the threat of death, since she kissed her in Skye's old apartment.

Ward came barreling in first, followed closely by May, and then Coulson with Fitz. It was perfect timing, just as they came through the door Skye began to stir and an inaudible noise escaped her lips. Jemma knew it was selfish, but she wanted to be alone with Skye right now. The room was silent, everyone held their breath when Skye's eyes fluttered open.

* * *

The first thing Skye was aware of was that the pounding in her head was gone. She could hear other people shuffling around her. She was afraid to open her eyes, she wasn't sure what she would see. She wasn't sure if she imagined any of what she remembered, because it was just so crazy. She didn't know if Ashley had betrayed her or not, if Jemma kissed her or not, or even if she ever got out of the centipede compound the first time. Maybe it was all a dream.

But an odd feeling of contentment washed over her when she sensed Jemma's presence, telling her it was ok.

She wasn't psychic, she was far from it, but she recognized the faint smell of her perfume and the sound of her soft breathing.

So Skye opened her eyes, willingly.

"Hey there." Jemma told Skye in a shaky voice as tears brimmed in her eyes. Skye couldn't understand why Jemma was crying. For a minute Skye's heartbeat sped up as she tried to recognize the faces around her to make sure they were friendly. Skye's nervousness showed on the screen that monitored her vitals.

_April. No, May. _Skye knew it was a month. _Grant. Ward._ Skye called him Ward. Skye was frustrated. She knew exactly who these people were, but she struggled to remember the name she associated with the face. _Coulson. _That one wasn't so hard. _Fitzsimmons._ No, that wasn't right. It was just Fitz. Fitzsimmons was both Fitz and Jemma, who was just over there.

Skye opened her mouth, but she didn't know what she wanted to say. There was so much to say.

* * *

As soon as Skye's eyes opened, the scientific part of Jemma's brain starting listing the symptoms of brain damage she was showing. _Anxiety_, Jemma thought as the beeping in the room sped up. _Confusion_, She thought as Skye looked at each of them with a blank face.

It looked like Skye was about to speak, and Jemma hoped to god that she could.

"Th-thanks guys." Skye cried. _Slurred speech and stuttering._

"It was mostly Simmons." Fitz said bashfully. Skye gave Jemma a very gracious glance before looking back and smiling at the rest of the team.

"Are you alright?" Ward asked her, brushing his fingers gently against Skye's arm. Skye almost flinched, but let his touch seep into her skin.

"I... I think s-so." Skye muttered. Jemma could see the growing frustration in her eyes as she fought to control the noises coming out of her own mouth.

"I want you to know that we're hunting down the bastards who did this to you." May told Skye. She couldn't keep the anger from bubbling up in her throat, and Coulson glared at her for it. But May's comment seemed to only have a positive effect on Skye, as she began to look less lethargic.

Skye tried to sit up, Jemma tried to stop her, and Fitz stopped Jemma, knowing Skye wasn't going to like staying still for too long.

Skye turned to Jemma.

"Is there something... something wrong with me?" Skye asked her childishly, expected Jemma to have all the answers.

"Nothing that won't get better with time." Jemma sighed. Although Skye did have brain damage and did seem to have a few issues, Jemma knew better than to be ungrateful. Skye was lucky she didn't die, and she was extremely lucky it wasn't worse.


	10. Chapter 10

Skye was having another nightmare. Jemma dashed out of her own bed and into Skye's bunk when she heard the tossing and turning sounds along with the soft crying that her ears were trained to listen for.

Jemma slid the bunk door shut behind her before sitting on Skye's bed and gently shaking her awake.

"Again? That's the third time tonight." Jemma asked Skye sympathetically. "They can't hurt you anymore." Jemma promised while enveloping Skye in a crushing hug.

Jemma had taken on the self-appointed job of comforting Skye since the night after she woke up. Jemma hadn't been able to sleep any of the three nights, she was woken up by Skye's cries every time she began to drift off.

"It wasn't about me." Skye muttered over Jemma's shoulder. Jemma was curious about what Skye had dreamed about, but she was also happy. That was the clearest sentence Skye had said in three days. Jemma had been watching painfully as Skye tried to pronounce her words correctly the whole time and knew how hard it was for her, how hard she tried to talk. But she appeared to be getting better very quickly, something Jemma was thankful for.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jemma asked hopefully when Skye finally pulled out of the hug and positioned herself so that she was sitting with her legs crossed in front of Jemma, who tucked her legs beneath her on the bed.

Although this was not the first time Jemma was comforting Skye, this was the first time Skye had decided to open up to Jemma about it. For Jemma this was a small moral victory. Because she thought it was the right thing to do, Jemma hadn't made a move on Skye since that first kiss that seemed to have happened a lifetime ago and it felt like they hadn't connected very much.

"It was about you." Skye told Jemma as she sniffled and let a tear fall from her eyelashes. "I keep having nightmares about them... about them..." Jemma couldn't tell if Skye couldn't finish her sentence because of her brain damage or because of her emotions, but Jemma knew she herself was beginning to get choked up.

"Every... Every time I close my eyes I see them... hurting you." Skye reached up and brushed her fingers against the faded bruise still remaining on Jemma's jaw. "Because of me." Skye choked out her last line. Jemma thought her heart was going to explode before, but this was something else.

"No, no, sweetheart, it wasn't your fault." Jemma told Skye in an attempt to stop her sobbing. Jemma froze. She didn't know what she was saying, it just came out of her mouth. But it didn't seem to faze Skye, she didn't appear to think it was awkward or weird in any way.

"I have a question." Skye sniffled. The tears had finally stopped. Without either of the girls realizing it, they had moved a few inches closer to one another.

"Anything." Jemma told her.

"I remember something that.. that I think I just need to confirm." Jemma thought she knew what Skye was talking about. She nodded and let her continue.

"I know that we, uh... we, uh..." Jemma knew for sure this wasn't about her injury because Skye's hand traveled to the back of her neck and her cheeks were a rosy pink.

"Kissed, Skye. We kissed." Jemma finished for her. Jemma smiled with Skye as she nodded.

"Yeah. That. Did you really mean it? I mean you haven't said anything-"

"Of course I meant it!" Jemma laughed, impulsively taking Skye's hand in hers as she explained. "Before I did anything else I just wanted to make sure that you actually were a lesbian and you weren't doing anything because you were drugged." Jemma said. It was her turn to blush.

"I'm bisexual." Skye confirmed, rubbing her thumb across the back of Jemma's hand, which was still grasping hers.

"Oh. Oh." Jemma said, looking down at her lap. She knew that was a mistake when she looked back up and observed the offended look on Skye's face.

"Do you have a problem with that? Because it would be extremely hypocritical to-"

"No! No, it's nothing like that." Jemma interrupted her, wanting to make sure it was clear so that Skye wouldn't be upset with her.

"Then what is it?" Jemma could see Skye still simmering and cooling down a little, and she had to refrain herself from laughing. It was so like Skye.

"Well, there's just... more competition." Jemma told her, instantly thinking about how Ward looked at Skye the same way she did.

"Jemma, there's no competition whatsoever." Skye laughed and took Jemma's other hand in her free one. "None. You're so out of my league anyway, there's no way I could turn you down." Skye joked. Then the bunk was silent. Jemma was still trying to take in this information when Skye leaned in and pecked her on the cheek. As she smiled, Skye caught her bottom lip between her teeth in that way of hers that drove Jemma crazy.

"Skye, would you do me the honor of allowing me to court you?" Jemma asked in a formal fashion, standing up to do a quick curtsy and gave a beaming smile that caused Skye to crack up.

"Yes, yes." Skye answered between short bursts of laughter. Jemma flopped back onto the bed and leaned into Skye slowly as she closed her eyes, trying to act confident, but not too confident. Jemma knew she was an awkward idiot, but but she pretended she had more game.

Skye apparently was not a very patient person and eagerly met Jemma's lips, surprising her. The blood rushing through Jemma's veins quickly began to boil. Skye couldn't get enough of Jemma's soft lips, the lips that were as smooth as if she was wearing lip gloss, even when she wasn't.

The flow of the moment was both familiar and new to both of them as they moved in synchronization. They only paused for a moment in hopes of easing their rapid breathing before Skye attacked Jemma again. Jemma's hand entangled itself in Skye's long brown hair that smelled of daisies, and in effect Skye's arm wrapped around Jemma's waist and pulled their hips together.

Jemma could feel Skye's breath against her face every time their lips parted for a fraction of a second and it only made her realize how much she wanted to share everything with Skye. Jemma let her hands wander down to Skye's waist and she toyed with the hem of her shirt between two fingers.

Skye let out a soft moan as Jemma closed the little space that was between them. With both girls in tank tops, there was plenty of exposed skin that caused shivers to run down the girls' spines as they touched. Skye's skin was warm from being tucked under the blankets only recently and Jemma's was slowly warming from its nervous, clammy state.

Jemma moved Skye onto her back on the bed so that she could lay on top of her and pepper kisses on her neck and face. She pushed Skye's hands above her head and Skye intertwined their fingers.

It felt like sheer paradise until it all started to go horribly wrong. Jemma rubbed her thumbs against the inside of Skye's forearms while their hands were still connected, and while Jemma's intentions were nothing other than to please Skye, it made Skye self-conscious about her scars and as much as she wanted to throw off her shirt right there, she didn't want Jemma to see it all again.

Skye wiggled out from underneath Jemma and tried to catch her breath, placing one hand on the wall to steady herself.

"Skye?" Jemma asked as she recovered from her absence and stood up. From where she was standing she could see some of the large scars on Skye's back, the long slashes she had been horrified to see the first time. Skye pushed her hair behind her to cover them.

Jemma came up behind her and placed one hand on one of Skye's shoulders, but Skye shrugged it off and fled her own bunk before Jemma could put in another word.


	11. Chapter 11

"Skye?!" Jemma called out quietly with worry lining her voice. She didn't want to wake the others, but she had to find Skye. She poked her head out into the hall from Skye's bunk, but she had disappeared. Jemma slipped out of the tiny bunk and started to head towards the cargo hold, where eight months ago Skye could almost always be found, whether training with Ward or playing with her laptop in the black van.

As Jemma approached the stairs, she already heard the rattling of chains and the thumping sounds of impact as Skye threw her fists at the punching bag. Jemma watched quietly from the rail as Skye continued to let her emotions escape her body. She'd never seen Skye so dedicated to training, she'd never seen her throw an actual punch at the bag and actually put effort into it.

A battle took place in Jemma's mind as she decided whether or not to go talk to her. On one side, she didn't want Skye's negative emotions boiling over while she was alone, but on the other, she might appreciate being alone. She hadn't been alone much since before Ward found her in the cafe a little over two weeks ago.

Jemma decided she would wait a few minutes, let Skye work through whatever she was feeling, and then approach her.

When more time found itself between each of Skye's punches and she tossed her gloves on the ground Jemma knew it was time to talk to her. The perfect opportunity arose when Skye climbed into the van, exhausted.

Jemma slowly made her way down the steps into the cargo hold, the metal freezing under the toes of her bare feet.

Skye was aware that Jemma was coming and took a deep breath as the passenger door opened and Jemma slid in next to her. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Jemma finally cleared her throat.

"Skye-"

"Jemma." Skye interrupted her. They each turned to face each other at the same time and the two sets of brown eyes stared into each other.

"If I did anything to make you feel uncomfortable, or unsafe, in any way..." Jemma began. She had to take a breath because tears were beginning to swell in her eyes. "I don't want to do that to you, but I want you to know that you don't have to hide from me." Jemma told her. Skye seemed to be soaking this in. Jemma slid one hand onto Skye's waist, and she tried to jerk away before Jemma stopped her with a soft whisper.

"Do you trust me?" Jemma asked. Skye was mesmerized by the look in Jemma's eyes, she thought they were so beautiful. Skye couldn't do anything but not. Yes, she trusted Jemma.

Underneath Skye's shirt, Jemma lightly pressed a palm over one of the bumpy scars on Skye's side.

"These don't change anything for me. I'm not going to see you any differently and I think you're beautiful. Not despite them, with them. Whether you like it or not, they are a part of you. That alone automatically makes them beautiful too." Jemma smiled and wet tears painted trails down Skye's face. They curved outward when they reached the corners of her mouth. Skye nodded her head and shuffled to cuddle into Jemma's side.

Jemma turned into Skye and wrapped her arms around her, allowing Skye to rest her head on Jemma's shoulder. Jemma began to drift off with Skye and found herself resting her cheek on the top of Skye's head.

"Skye?" Jemma captured the attention of the young woman in her arms before she fell into a deep sleep.

"Hm?" Skye responded. Her eyes were already closed and she melted into Jemma's body. Jemma was going to tell Skye that she never had to feel alone again, but Jemma knew because of Skye's even, slow breathing that she was asleep. Jemma kissed the top of Skye's head and let herself travel into the dream world.

* * *

Ward finally understood what was going on. He, along with every else on the bus, knew about Jemma's nightly visits to Skye's bunk, but he didn't think anything was going on. Until, of course, he had come downstairs into the cargo hold to work out only to see Jemma and Skye through the windshield of one of their cars. They were both sound asleep, limbs tangled together and heads pressed against each other.

Ward was shocked. If anyone on the bus was a lesbian, he thought it would have been May. It just seemed more probable to him that Jemma, who was so innocent, starting a relationship with Skye, who had slept with Miles.

But more than shocked, Ward was angry. He didn't want Skye in Jemma's arms that way, the way he'd been longing to comfort her the whole time.

So, being Ward, he acted impulsively on his feelings, and knocked on the window before he figured out what he was going to say to them. Jemma lifted her head and blushed furiously when she saw Ward. Skye didn't wake until she felt Jemma shift beneath her as she tried to get out of the car.

"Don't forget about the meeting with Coulson this morning." Ward used a weak excuse to try and convince Jemma he had a reasonable excuse to wake them up, even though the meeting wasn't for another hour and a half.

Skye and Jemma gave each other a knowing smile as they stumbled out of the car and walked away to freshen up for the day, which only seemed to aggravate Ward.

Jemma changed something in Skye, Ward noticed. One moment Skye was shutting everyone out and the next it seemed she was only a few smiles away from skipping through the bus hand in hand with Jemma.

As they climbed up the steps, Skye whispered something Ward couldn't hear into Jemma's ear that made her smile.

"Go get ready, silly." Jemma told her as she giggled and poked Skye's shoulder.

* * *

"So, did you get some?" Fitz asked Simmons as he waggled his eyebrows at her. He had known his partner was a lesbian since long before they ever stepped foot on the bus and he was excited that his friend finally found someone.

Jemma and Fitz were talking in the lab, waiting the last half hour until Coulson's meeting. Jemma would have chosen to spend some more time with Skye, but unfortunately it took the other woman much longer to get herself ready.

"What? No!" Jemma protested solidly. Fitz raised his eyebrows in the way that suggested Jemma protested much. "It's not like that with Skye, it's... special." Jemma explained, smiling as she picked an adjective to describe her and Skye's budding relationship.

"You at least kissed her, didn't you?" Fitz asked, hoping his friend wasn't just imagining everything.

"Yes." Jemma stuck her tongue out at him as she remembered the blissfully sweet make out session she had shared with Skye. Jemma could still feel the ghost of Skye's touch on her skin.

"So what's next with you two? And how are you going to tame the green eyed monster?" Fitz asked her.

"I'm not sure, I think we're just going to wing it. And Ward, I have no idea." Jemma answered.

"You're worried." Fitz observed out loud. He knew the twisted look on her face when he saw it. "You're not worried about Skye and Ward are you? Last I checked she still seemed pissed at him for how he treated her." Fitz told Simmons, hoping to get through to her.

"Well, Skye was mad at me at first, too." Jemma countered his argument shyly.

"Are you kidding?! That lasted no more than two seconds." Fitz complained. "You need to just go for it and stop worrying so much." Fitz advised her.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Jemma sighed.

"She's probably done by now, go get her." Fitz joked, pushing Jemma out of the lab no matter how nervous she was. Even though Jemma and Skye had clearly shared their feelings for each other, Jemma still had butterflies in her stomach every time she thought about talking to Skye.


	12. Chapter 12

Jemma knocked on the door of the bathroom she knew Skye was in, but she didn't receive a response.

"Skye?" Jemma pressed her ear against the door to see if she could hear her inside.

"I'm fine!" Skye called out. Jemma knew she was lying because of the distress lining her voice.

"Unlock the door, Skye." Jemma sighed when the door failed to open after she jiggled the knob. As soon as Jemma heard the lock click out of place she pushed through the door, ignoring her girlfriend's privacy, just as Skye rushed back to the toilet and started vomiting.

"Hey, you're ok." Jemma whispered as she held Skye's hair behind her and held one of Skye's clammy hands.

"Has this been happening since you woke up from the coma?" Jemma asked once she was finished. Skye nodded and sat down on the cool tile beside Jemma.

"It's probably the head injury, if you rest like you're supposed to instead of working out like you did last night, it should go away." Jemma told her with a pointed look.

"Hey, you know you enjoyed that." Skye said, teasing Jemma. It was incredible how Skye could be cheerful even when she was throwing up. She was hoping the bubbly version of Skye was finally coming back for good.

"Skye! Why would you immediately assume-" Jemma started to counter, but Skye raised her eyebrows in question.

"Ok, fine. Just a little bit." Jemma said to humor her. Skye cracked a smile and Jemma knew her job here was complete.

"Now let's get you up and to that meeting." Jemma told her as they both got to their feet and exited the bathroom.

* * *

"We have a couple important things to discuss. Unfortunately, all of them have to do with you." Coulson started, nodding towards Skye. Skye looked behind her as if there was someone else Coulson could possibly be nodding at and Jemma struggled to maintain a serious posture. Their shoulders were brushing against each other and no one failed to notice it. Fitz gave Jemma a teasing smile before Coulson got on with what he was going to say.

"First, we need to figure out what to do with SHIELD." Coulson said. Skye was confused, she didn't seem to be getting the memo. How did everyone else know what he was talking about when she didn't?

Coulson noticed her expression and elaborated, more for her sake than the team.

"You know we've been in the air as much as possible recently, and it's not just so that Centipede can't find us. SHIELD knows we've confiscated a weapon and they want us to take it to the sandbox." Coulson explained. Then Skye realized why this was about her. She swallowed a lump in her throat as she began to understand. She was the weapon, the one SHIELD wanted to lock up in the sandbox to never see the light of day again.

"Do- do they know it's me?" Skye asked.

"Not yet, but I don't know what to tell them yet and they're getting impatient." Coulson said. "That's what we're discussing."

"What if... What if Fitzsimmons can make a fake weapon?" Skye suggested. Jemma knew Skye was stuttering again because she was worried, so she gently ran her fingers along Skye's arm discretely under the table, the one that they always stood around when they were discussing missions.

"That's actually a decent idea." Fitz spoke up.

"What if that doesn't work?" Ward asked skeptically.

"Then we'll go from there." Coulson answered him.

"Even if it doesn't work, we're not letting anyone get their hands on Skye, bad-guys or good-guys." May said in defense of the girl she had grown protective of. Skye smiled at her appreciatively and May almost smiled in return. Almost.

"Fitzsimmons, as weird as this sounds, make a centipede-worthy weapon that SHIELD will believe had the power to delete their files, we know they've already had that brief panic. They know it happened and they know we know how." Coulson ordered. Fitz and Jemma tried to begin to collaborate, but a look from Coulson shut them up.

"The next thing on the long list of things we have to worry about is centipede itself." Coulson began. "We, May and I, fear that centipede may not be an organization on its own."

"What are you saying?" Fitz asked for clarification.

"Centipede may only be a branch of the tree we're trying to cut down here." Coulson told the team. "And other than Ashley, we don't even have a lead." Coulson stated, forgetting that Skye was present at one of their meetings in over eight months.

Everyone glared at him for his slip-up except for Skye, who had a hurt look on her face.

Jemma tried to grasp Skye's hand to give her moral support, but Skye tugged it away, leaving Jemma's hand hovering in the air.

"Ashley is here?" She asked. The slur in her voice was barely detectable, but it was present. No one answered her, they all knew she was terribly angry with them for not sharing this important fact.

"I want to see her." Skye stated, looking at each of them to make sure no one contradicted her.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Of course Ward was the one to try and stop her, Skye thought. He was so controlling, even more so when it came to her, and she was tired of it.

Skye pressed her palms against the tabletop and leaned forward to emphasize the point she was about to make.

"Look. I know you guys can only see Ashley as the enemy, but I have a less limited view from my standpoint. I definitely don't consider her a friend any more, but she was my _best_ friend for six months, longer than I knew any of you before this all started. I lived with a good person for six months, she's not just a bad-guy to me." Skye lectured her team, her voice seeming to get more and more frustrated every word she spoke. "So I'm going to see her." Skye finished strongly, not leaving the topic open for discussion.

Everyone was impressed, not only by her speech's content, but by its delivery. Skye hadn't stuttered, started a sentence over, or messed up a single word. Jemma was absolutely amazed. She'd never seen someone recover from brain damage so quickly, and she guessed it had to do with the computer in her head. Both her and Fitz silently guessed that she could somehow reprogram herself, which was in itself a miracle.

"Do you want me to come?" Jemma asked Skye softly, knowing Skye enough to know that she was terrified.

At this point, the entire team could tell something was going on between Jemma and Skye and they all figured it out pretty quickly when Skye leaned in and pressed her lips against Jemma's for a soft kiss.

"Not this time. I have to do this alone." Skye told her individually. May and Coulson glanced at each other. Everything made sense now.

"And no cameras." Skye ordered her superior confidently as she walked out of the room.

"Skye?" Jemma called out when she was halfway down the hall, causing her to stop and turn her head.

"Be careful." She told her. Skye nodded and continued the start of what would only last a few minutes, but would be a long journey.

When she unlocked the door to the cell, Skye took a deep breath. She was scared to see her former friend. She was also afraid that when she saw Ashley's face she would either break down or try to break her. Skye was so mad, but she couldn't help but still care for the person she lived with for half of a year.

Skye took the plunge and entered the room. Her breath hitched in her throat when she saw Ashley's bloody face that was undoubtedly the work of May. _She deserves it, she deserves it_, Skye had to convince herself. When Ashley looked up and noticed that her visitor was Skye, her face lit up, but then faded quickly. Skye wished she knew for sure whether somehow, in her own twisted way, Ashley thought she was protecting Skye by keeping her in the centipede project.

"Cat." Ashley sighed.


	13. Chapter 13

"Before you say a damned thing, I want you to know that I'm not here because of those six months." Skye told Ashley as she sat down angrily. Ashley closed her mouth, she had been about to say something but was now having second thoughts.

"I'm only here because I need your help and you won't respond to any of my friends." Skye told her. Skye crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned against the table. Ashley leaned back casually in hers.

"Oh, so now they're your friends." Ashley snorted. Skye practically snarled at her.

"I hope you're not suggesting that you were ever mine." Skye snapped back.

"Well I sure seemed better than they did." She answered, shrugging her shoulders. Skye was disgusted with the girl sitting in front of her now. She remembered having countless laughs with her working in the diner, making popcorn and watching movies, shopping at the town's flea market, and a million other things, but the woman she saw now was completely different. She almost reminded her of Ward. The cold eyes that have just a teeny bit of emotion every now and then, the casual yet serious attitude, along with numerous other things. But mostly she just saw a traitor.

"Please, elaborate." Skye scoffed, interested to know how Ashley possibly thought she was a better friend than her team members.

"Well, you didn't tell me any specifics, but I remember you complaining about the really mean, heartless, female ninja, the robotic, crude man, but mostly, the girl who just couldn't see you behind her best friend. It doesn't sound like they were ever as close as you and I were." Ashley made her point.

"They may not be perfect, but they didn't lie to my face every moment of every day and they didn't betray me like that." Skye countered. She knew she was getting off the topic she originally entered to discuss, but Ashley got under her skin so easily.

"But didn't they? I don't know about the lying, but it probably wasn't so loyal to let you get tortured, was it? Leave you to die like that?" Ashley asked. Skye looked down at her lap, but was even more frustrated than before.

"You knew my entire back story when you met me, didn't you?" Skye asked her in disbelief. Skye thought Ashley was the nicest person for saving her ass that day out in the rain, but now she knew Ashley had probably been seeking her out. Prowling the streets for the wounded animal that was her target.

"Oh, I knew _all_ of it." Ashley smirked, hinting that she even knew something that Skye didn't, something that Skye desperately wanted to know.

This is when Skye figured that Ashley was just trying to distract her, stop her from talking about what she was really there to talk about.

"I'm done playing games with you. I'm here for information, and not _that_ information." Skye told Ashley.

"Not even tempted to know about your family?" Ashley asked to dangle one last distraction in front of Skye's face, one that she wouldn't take.

"I have my own now. Now tell me what I want to know." Skye dismissed her idea.

"I can't tell you anything, they'll kill me. Sorry, my lips are sealed." Ashley said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"I have a proposal for you. I can't promise you paradise, because SHIELD doesn't really like you right now, but I can assure you that if you tell me what I need to know, we won't let Hydra get to you for ratting them out." Skye assured her.

"Wouldn't that be betraying them? Don't you just _hate_ traitors?" Ashley said, still mocking and teasing Skye with her tone of voice.

"You're a traitor anyway. Your only choice is who you're betraying. Betray me, the person you still somehow think is your friend, _again_, or, you can betray them, who left you unprotected after there was nothing more you could do for them and don't seem to care much about your rescue." Skye finally struck a chord in Ashley and she shifted uncomfortably, refusing to make eye contact with Skye for the first time since she walked in.

"I don't know much, but I know the top dogs are called Hydra." Ashley began to speak. Skye turned on the cameras with a remote so that Coulson could hear everything from here on out. Skye had a feeling they wouldn't be talking about anything personal for the rest of the visit.

"The only thing I was involved in was project MARY, which was obviously where you came in." Skye swallowed as Ashley mentioned her old first name. It brought back bad memories for her.

"I want to know more about the project." Skye demanded.

"You know this part, but the point of it was to turn you into a computer and destroy SHIELD using you." Ashley told Skye. Skye was hoping Ashley would be more helpful, but she didn't seem to know much more than she did.

"But now it's something bigger. Project MARY is now the general term for destroying SHIELD, and you're right in the middle of it." Ashley said.

"I don't even know what to ask now, just give me intel." Skye said.

"I'll start from the beginning of what I know. I was an engineer for Hydra, one that worked on your... tech. That's why they assigned me as an undercover agent to watch you, so that I could take care of you if anything backfired." Ashley said. Skye turned off the camera when her eyes began to water.

"You... you put this thing in me?" Skye asked Ashley. She remembered screaming at the doctors and engineers to stop or just kill her when she was on the operating table, but she didn't remember any faces. Knowing that Ashley was one of those people caused an unimaginable dose of fear to course through her veins.

Ashley noted that Skye had turned the cameras off and knew if she was going to say anything personal, now was the time.

"You may think I'm only saying this because I want to score points with you, but I didn't want to do that to you, even before I knew you. I hated myself even more after I got to know you." Ashley admitted. Skye knew she shouldn't, but she believed what Ashley said. She remembered that someone there kept pulling the others to the side and whispering angrily to them, and that the one person was very hesitant to begin installing things.

Skye brought a hand up to her face and wiped away a few tears before turning the camera back on and continuing.

"What's the plan for project MARY now?" Skye asked a little shakily, knowing the others were watching.

"Well, they're trying to get you back, obviously, but if they can't they aim to kill you. You're an asset and they don't want you playing for the other team." Ashley informed her.

"How do they plan on 'getting me back'?" Skye asked. This she was curious about, she wondered how Hydra, whoever that was, was planning on finding their plane in the air and taking her from it.

"There's uh, there's a... tracker... installed up there too." Ashley told Skye, motioning towards her head. Skye was horrified. A tracker... in her brain?! It was too much to take in.

So Skye used her normal way of coping: pretend it wasn't true. Skye ignored it so she could continue questioning Ashley. Afterwards she would deal with this. She was sure she could find a way to disable it.

"They were planning on following you straight back to your headquarters." Ashley told Skye. _That's why they haven't attacked since Jemma saved me,_ Skye realized. Once again, they let her go and she didn't even know.

"Is that everything you know?" Skye asked. Ashley nodded. Their arms were close enough together on the table for Ashley to reach, so she slowly extended her arm and placed her hand over Skye's. Skye was still for a moment, just staring at it. For just a second it felt like she was being comforted by her best friend. Just a second. But then an image of Ashley punching Jemma in the face entered her mind and she jerked away, leaving the room without another word.


	14. Chapter 14

Jemma wondered what was going on every time Skye turned off the cameras.

Naturally, the entire team was crowded around the screen that gave them access whenever Skye thought fit. The cameras turned off when Skye and Ashley hit a touchy subject, and it made them all nervous. But especially Jemma. Especially Jemma, when she had no idea what had gone on between her girlfriend and the woman who attacked them both during the six months that they lived together. She knew they had been friends but she hadn't been blatant enough to ask Skye if there had been anything deeper than that.

The information Skye was getting from Ashley was impressive. Everyone was tense when the word Hydra was mentioned. Coulson knew they had been dealing with something big and he had hoped it wasn't what he thought it was, but Ashley only confirmed his fears.

Everything they heard about Skye horrified them. Jemma was interested to know that somehow the name Mary was linked to Skye, Skye had never told them about her adoptive name before. Jemma had a million questions for Skye the next time they were alone.

Before they knew it, the cell was quiet. When Jemma glanced back at the screen, her heart and stomach flipped. It looked like Ashley and Skye were holding hands. Jemma was both infuriated and terrified that Ashley still had such a hold over Skye. Then Skye left.

In a matter of seconds she came barging into their meeting room. Jemma went to greet her, but Skye had a target. She marched right up to Fitz and held out her hand.

"I need the wire." Skye demanded. Fitz looked to Jemma for permission, earning him a glare from Skye. Even though she was now dating Jemma, that didn't mean she was her dictator.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Skye." Jemma told Skye as she put a hand on the small of Skye's back. Skye shivered with pleasure under the touch, but she had a goal to accomplish and this was no time to get flustered.

"You heard Ashley. I have a tracker in my head and I have to disable it." Skye said, moving her fingers to tell Fitz to hand it over.

"She's right." May finally interrupted the silent war going on between the three of them.

"They're going to shoot us out of the sky if we don't do something." Ward contributed. Coulson didn't say anything, but it was visually apparent that he agreed with everyone but Jemma. Jemma knew it was the right thing to do strategically, but she also knew that Skye hated plugging herself in like that. She admitted that she was acting more on the I'm-Skye's-girlfriend part of her brain than the logical-thinking part of her brain. So she sighed and nodded as Fitz gave Skye the wire and she plugged herself in to her laptop.

Coulson and May gasped a little when Skye's eyes began to glow, it was the first time they had seen it. Everyone else on the team had seen her plugged in at least once, but Jemma had seen in the most. Every time Skye's eyes glowed like that she could hear Skye's whimpering when she was tied to the chair and her screaming when she was dumping information onto the bus's computer. It seemed that almost every time she was plugged in something bad happened to her.

Skye winced a little bit and Jemma rushed to her side, pushing a strand of hair out of her face and rubbing one thumb into one of her shoulders. Skye leaned into the touch.

"You ok?" Jemma asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But they know what I'm doing and they're trying to hack into _me_." Skye told Jemma. Jemma was worried for just a second until she realized it was Skye, the super hacker, that they were trying to out-hack. They needed her because they weren't good enough, there was no way they were good enough to break into her systems.

"Got it. It's done." Skye said as she unplugged herself. "I disabled the tracker, blocked the only way they can hack me, and even traced their location." Skye smirked as she turned her laptop to face them, a little pulsing blue dot on a map revealing the location of the computer that was trying to hack her.

"Amazing. She's amazing." Fitz marveled. He was obviously talking about her technology, but Jemma smiled, because to her it meant something else. Skye was amazing, and Jemma told her so by leaning in and giving her a chaste kiss. Out of the corner of her eye she saw May smiling a little bit at the two.

"Fitzsimmons, how is the weapon coming along?" Ward interrupted them. Jemma and Skye broke apart, much to Skye's disliking, but the smile on Jemma's face told her they would get away later.

"Well, we've got an idea, but we couldn't say it has the power to destroy SHIELD." Fitz said nervously. He and Jemma obviously hadn't been able to complete the task.

"I can help." Skye said, mostly because she wanted to spend time in the lab with Jemma.

"I could put some nasty stuff on there." Skye was also excited at the chance to create the deadliest virus known to technology.

"Great." Coulson told them. "Go get started." Ward looked like he was going to say something, but he realized he had no power here.

"Skye, we need to continue with your training. It's even more vital now that you're a target." Jemma groaned inwardly and Skye laughed at the expression on her face. Ward had finally found his leverage, the one thing he could use to pry Skye and Jemma apart for more than ten minutes. Combat training.

* * *

"Come on, Skye! I've shown you this move a hundred times, just do it!" Ward ordered Skye, whose chest was aching from trying to get enough oxygen and whose body was sore from the workout.

"I can hardly move, Ward!" Skye complained, refusing to move from her position sitting on the ground. He had made her do way too many 'warm-up' exercises like push ups, pull ups, and anything else he could think of, to extend his time with her. They had hardly started any of the main training at all before Skye sat down and couldn't get back up.

"What are you going to do when you're in close combat with a Hydra soldier? Sit them to death?" Ward asked her, still moving around on the balls of his feet to keep his muscles from stilling for too long.

Skye stuck out her bottom lip in an adorable begging kind of way. "Probably." She told him.

"Come on. One more try?" Ward tried to convince her, holding out his hand to help her up. Skye groaned and rolled her eyes, finally reaching out to let him help her up. She didn't do much lifting though, she mostly let Ward drag her to her feet like a rag doll.

Skye was supposed to move out of the way of Ward's fist and get underneath him, where she could knock him off balance with a good kick to the kneecaps, but when he threw the punch, Skye apparently wasn't ready and took the hit on her face. It wasn't a hard hit, Ward would never risk hitting Skye full force. But it was enough to knock her backwards, causing her to fall on her ass.

"Are you alright?" Ward asked quickly, kneeling next to her. Ward was terrified he had hurt her, especially seeing her face. She wasn't making eye contact with him, but she was staring off into space in front of her, unseeing. Ward really started to worry when he waved a hand in front of her face and she didn't respond. Skye just continued to stare in front of her, not appearing to hear or see anything Ward said or did.

Ward was about to scoop her up and run her to Simmons when she blinked and looked over to him.

"Are you ok?" He asked, his brows creasing with worry. What Skye just did didn't seem natural.

"Yeah, I'm good." Skye said. It didn't even seem like she was aware of what just happened, like she didn't know anything happened at all.

"You can go, you're done for today." Ward said, releasing her. He wasn't going to tell her- or anyone- what just happened. He didn't want anyone to think he'd done something to her when he hadn't. If it happened again, he'd tell Fitz, but certainly not Simmons. Never Simmons. She would immediately blame him for anything and everything that happened to Skye under his watch.

"The robot's letting me go just because I took a little hit?" Skye asked in disbelief as she pulled herself to her feet. Ward nodded.

"Is there something wrong?" Skye asked. She knew when he was distressed, and he clearly was. When he assured her everything was fine and that he didn't want tire her out for tomorrow's training, she accepted it and left to find Jemma. If she had the opportunity to get out of physical activity, the hacker would take it.

* * *

"Hey Jem." Skye greeted Jemma cheerfully as she entered the biochemist's bunk. They had finished the decoy weapon before her training session with Ward and they were now free until they received another order. Jemma was sitting on her bed watching an episode of Doctor Who when Skye walked in, prompting her to smile at her guest.

It was nearing eight at night when Skye entered and sat on the bed beside Jemma with her legs folded up beneath her. The bus was quiet, most of the team went to bed at an early time when they could afford it.

"We haven't had much alone time since you professed your feelings for me." Skye teased Jemma and curled a strand of the girl's light brown hair on her fingers, Doctor Who still playing, unwatched, in front of them. How could Jemma even consider watching the episode for the twentieth time when the most attractive woman she had ever laid eyes on was mere inches from her?

"You've been busy..." Jemma sighed as she tilted her head. Skye was pressing soft kisses along it, nuzzling her nose into the crook of her neck every few seconds. Eventually Skye cuddled up against Jemma, who was leaning against the wall behind her.

"You're my favorite girlfriend, you know." Skye whispered jokingly. Jemma smiled at Skye's antics.

"That would be a lot more flattering if I wasn't your only girlfriend." Jemma told Skye as she began to comb her fingers through the long, wavy hair that was so tempting.

"Well..." Skye said as she sat up a little more and looked Jemma in the eyes.

"Oh, stop it!" Jemma laughed and slapped Skye on the shoulder teasingly. Skye cracked a smile and kissed the corner of Jemma's mouth. Jemma had had enough of Skye's teasing though, and used two fingers to tilt Skye's head to the right.

Skye was pretty sweaty and smelled a bit, but it didn't bother Jemma one bit. In fact, it only made her more attractive when her skin glistened in the dim light. Skye brushed her legs against Jemma's when Jemma pressed her palms against Skye's cheeks and held her in the gentle, affectionate kiss.

Jemma felt that something was wrong though. Skye had stopped moving eagerly against her. Jemma usually kissed with her eyes closed, but she opened them just this once and found herself staring into Skye's eyes, unblinking. Jemma was startled and jumped a little. Her heart began to race when Skye didn't move and continued to stare through her.

"Skye?" Jemma questioned, gently tapping the cheek of the face right in front of hers. Within a moment, Skye finally blinked and continued to kiss Jemma like nothing had happened. Jemma was positive Skye didn't even know it had happened.

Jemma brushed it off, thinking it was just some minor technological nonsense that she could ask Fitz about later. She didn't want to kill the mood, so she quickly forgot about the little glitch, she supposed she could call it.

When their kiss began to progressively get more intense, Skye sat on Jemma's lap and leaned downwards to keep her lips pressed against Jemma's. Jemma's hands hungrily traveled from Skye's hips, to her waist, and up her shirt. Jemma's fingers toyed with the edges of Skye's bra. When she remembered Skye's past reaction, she tore herself away from Skye for a moment to look into her eyes, asking for permission. Skye nodded silently. She had decided it was time to come out of her shell.

Skye tugged her own shirt over her head and continued to kiss Jemma passionately as she began to unbutton her girlfriend's shirt with one hand. Jemma could still feel Skye's tense muscles underneath her fingertips, so she drew small patterns over the scars with her fingers until she relaxed.

Jemma's shirt was quickly strewn across the floor with Skye's and Skye's fingers trailed up and down Jemma's stomach, exploring the newly exposed skin. Skye's touch alone made Jemma wild, she couldn't imagine a better feeling.

* * *

Jemma awoke with a smile still on her face. She could feel Skye's presence against her in the bed, both of them still naked. She found it amusing how Skye was such a little spoon, even though she was significantly taller than Jemma.

Jemma could feel the dryness in her throat from kissing Skye for so long the previous night and made aim to get them both a glass of water. She climbed out of her bed, which was difficult to do without waking Skye because it was so tiny, and pulled one of her oversized sleeping shirts over her cold body. She pressed a kiss to Skye's forehead before she left and smiled when Skye mumbled Jemma's name in her sleep.

As Jemma made her way to the kitchen, she slowed and took smaller steps. Someone was in the kitchen, and it didn't sound like anyone on the team. It sounded like a number of people were rummaging around.

Jemma peeked into the kitchen once and swung her head back out. Many men were looking around the bus, all of them holding guns and wearing the black uniforms she saw the day Jemma and Skye took off and left Ward to fight. _They're here for Skye, _Jemma realized in horror. She wondered how on earth they had gotten on the bus, no one even heard a plane land on top of them.

But Jemma didn't have time, she had to go fetch Skye and somehow get the both of them out of there with whatever other team members she could find.

Before Jemma got back to her bunk, a hand clamped over her mouth and dragged her, screaming, into a nearby closet.

"Shhh" Jemma was finally comforted by Skye's voice in the dark room. She felt one of Skye's fingers press up against her lips to form the universal sign for silence, but Jemma couldn't refrain herself.

"You ok?" She whispered as quietly as possible.

"I'm alright. What about you? Did I hurt you?" Skye asked, very much concerned.

"Yes. No. Yes, I'm alright; no, you didn't hurt me." Jemma told Skye. A bright light suddenly filled the room as Skye opened her laptop and let the screen shine against her face. She was wearing one of Jemma's sweatshirts from the SHIELD academy, and it was so big on her that it hung off one shoulder. Matching sweatpants covered Skye's legs, reminding Jemma of how she used to look when she went to bed at the academy.

"I grabbed these, I wasn't sure how much you'd have." Skye offered Jemma another pair of sweatpants and a light jacket. Jemma took them gratefully and watched with interest as Skye fiddled with her laptop.

"Do you know where everyone else is?" Jemma asked.

"The surveillance cameras found them tied up in the cargo hold. We're the only ones left unfound." Skye answered. Jemma was terrified. It was down to the two of them again, the two of them who couldn't fight.

"Do you by any chance have a plan?" Jemma asked hopefully. She could already see the smile on Skye's face.

"Of course I have a plan. But you're not going to like it." Skye said, suddenly frowning. Jemma already hated where this was going, she knew it was going to be another selfless suicide mission.

"Skye, please don't tell me that-"

"It involves you staying right here, very much out of sight." Skye interrupted Jemma. Skye was afraid that Jemma was going to talk her out of it this time, and she knew she couldn't let that happen.

"Skye if you get hurt-"

"I won't." Skye interrupted her again. "Just let me do this one thing. Just this one thing, please, Jemma. You've been saving me the whole time I've known you and it's about time I return the favor. I'm going to keep you safe." Skye rubbed her thumb across Jemma's cheek.

"But-"

"Jems." Skye said sternly. Jemma nodded. She knew there was no reasoning with her.

"You're my favorite girlfriend, you know." Skye joked, gently kissing her goodbye.

"That would be a lot more flattering if I-" Jemma started to say, going along with their inside joke.

"You'll always be my only girlfriend. I never want to have a girlfriend other than you, Jemma Simmons." Skye smiled. Before Jemma could respond, Skye took her laptop and slipped out of the closet, leaving Jemma alone to whisper 'I love you' into the dark.


	15. Chapter 15

Skye knew what she was doing. She knew so well, in fact, that she was confident her plan would work. She clutched her laptop against her side and took a deep breath before taking off running, whooping and hollering the whole way to attract attention. Her actions caused the expected, Skye could hear large footfalls slowly gaining on her. Skye opened her laptop after taking a right turn and began to furiously type on it with one hand while holding it with her left arm.

Skye always saw hacking as a series of doors, doors that needed to be unlocked or locked, or even doors that needed to be made. But this time, she was opening and closing them. Literally. Most of the locks on doors in the bus were connected to the mainframe, so she could easily control them. Skye was leading their attackers to a place on the bus that she could lock them into.

She found what she was looking for, a large storage room with two exits, exactly the type of location she was looking for. She darted inside, closing all doors that allowed access to the other door, the one she planned on escaping through, so that they couldn't trap her inside.

So far she had executed her plan perfectly. And Ward thought hacking wasn't just as useful as fighting. When Skye heard the soldiers coming, she jogged to the other side of the storage room and stood just outside the door, waiting.

As soon as the last soldier entered the storage room and began searching for her between shelves, Skye pressed a button on her laptop, causing the door to swing shut behind them.

It was then that they spotted her. One soldier called out to the others and soon Skye had at least a dozen guns aimed at her. But Skye just smiled. She had won.

The mischievous smile on Skye's face quickly bubbled into a little laugh, one that had the soldiers extremely confused. They figured Skye was barking mad.

Skye gave them a little wave and an air kiss before pressing another key on her laptop. The door swung shut and gunfire immediately rained on it, but the metal door wasn't going to budge. Skye heard a satisfying bang that meant the bolt had slid into place and the soldiers were trapped inside. Skye smiled to herself.

She ran back to the closet she left Jemma in, but stopped short when she saw a soldier right in front of it. Probably someone the others left behind to continue searching. Skye didn't have time to lure him away, he obviously heard Jemma inside because he held out a gun when he reached for the door knob.

There was no way Skye was going to let anything happen to Jemma, so Skye charged to stop him in time. The man opened the closet door and Jemma's scream sent a chill down Skye's spine. The soldier held up his gun to shoot her, but Skye got there first. She held her laptop high above her head, and swung it down against the back of his head so hard that she heard a crack. Whether it was his head or her laptop, she didn't know, but it got the job done. The man collapsed and Skye quickly yanked his body off of Jemma's and enveloped her in a crushing hug, pulling her out of the closet.

"I've got you, it's ok. I'll protect you." Skye promised Jemma. It was Skye's turn to comfort someone else, and she took it, grateful that there was still a Jemma to comfort.

"Skye, I'm sorry." Jemma whispered.

"Don't talk like that. What do you have to be sorry about?" Skye said to Jemma as she pulled out of the hug and held onto Jemma by the shoulders, searching her eyes for some clue.

"This is SHIELD, you have relinquished command." A voice came over the speaker as the girls felt the plane start to land.

"What's going on?" Skye wondered out loud. Skye could tell by the lack of the usual curiosity in Jemma's eyes that she knew exactly what was going on, or at least more than Skye knew.

"You have to understand why. I have to protect you." Jemma told Skye, grasping her hands.

"Jemma, what did you do?" Skye asked her. But Skye had a feeling she knew what Jemma did, and she stepped away, horrified. Jemma tried to follow her and take her hand again, but Skye took another step back.

"You have to understand. The only way you'll get the protection you need is if SHIELD wants you protected." Jemma told Skye. Skye put her hands over her face to try and block Jemma out for a minute, so she could try to understand what was going on. But it was also to wipe away a few tears.

Numerous agents clambered into the room and quickly placed handcuffs on Skye's wrists. Skye couldn't stop staring at Jemma, and Jemma felt like Skye's pain-filled eyes were burning a hole through her head.

"What are you doing? She's not a criminal!" Jemma questioned the restraints, but Agent Hand, the woman in charge of the transfer, was not about to walk with a weapon of Hydra without some security.

Jemma flinched when she saw the hate on Skye's face.

"Protection?! Jemma, they're locking me up!" Skye screamed at her. Skye's face was red and her eyes were slightly puffy from the tears.

"Skye, I had to." Jemma said. "Because I love you." This seemed to set Skye off, and she tried to take a step towards Jemma, only to be stopped by several sets of hands that grabbed her forearms to tightly.

"On the list of lies I've been told in my life, that one's pretty high up there. Right next to 'I promise, Mary, you'll get adopted someday'!" Skye shouted.

Jemma couldn't even describe how terrible she felt. She still knew it was the only way to protect Skye, but having Skye tell Jemma something like that in response, Jemma regretted her decision to call SHIELD and inform them of Skye's status.

The name Mary suddenly made sense to Jemma. It was her old name, from when she was in the system. And Skye had just compared what Jemma said to the worst part of Skye's life. Jemma knew then how much she just hurt Skye. She realized that while she was protecting Skye physically, she was pretty terrible at protecting her emotionally.

"Tell Ward I'll be a little late for our next training session." Skye spit at Jemma sarcastically as the SHIELD agents got impatient and began to drag her off towards the cargo hold. It hurt Jemma even more that Ward was the subject of the last sentence Skye would speak to her.

"Skye." Jemma choked on her tears, but Skye was already out of earshot.

* * *

May knew the SHIELD agents were on the bus, they had been the ones to free them of their bonds. She had wanted to go find Simmons and Skye, but Agent Hand told them not to.

That's why she was so confused when she saw Agent hand bring a restrained, hooded figure into the cargo hold.

"Skye, is that you?" May ran over and put a hand on her arm. What was obviously Skye under the hood jerked away from May's touch angrily and the agents holding her guided her into the back of the van they had arrived on.

"What are you doing?" Coulson questioned them.

"You should be more like your team member, Simmons. This should have been reported to me weeks ago." She said angrily. Agent Hand climbed into the van before it backed out of the cargo hold and drove away, containing their teammate-turned-prisoner.


	16. Chapter 16

Skye curled up in the corner of her new cell as the six inch thick concrete door slammed shut and rattled the walls around it. Bolts and locks slid into place and Skye pulled her knees tighter against her chest. There was no way she was escaping, she was sitting in what was basically a cement box, one without electrical locks. When they had walked her in they took off the hood to reveal a massive vault-like contraption that locked the door along with several other places requiring keys.

Skye pressed her forehead to her knees and let the pent up sob claw its way out of her throat. Skye needed to stop trusting people, she realized. She always tried to connect with people her entire life only to have people hack away at the bond with an axe. Why did she trust Jemma? What made her any different from Miles, why didn't she have the sense to recognize that she needed to stop this reckless pattern?

Skye figured it was because love is a drug, one that Skye has a terrible addiction to, and a drug that's illegal for her. It's hard to get, hard to possess, and hard to take. Its side effects were especially deadly. Blindness. Confusion. When you're in love you can't think straight and things that would normally make sense don't even occur to you.

When Skye realized she was comparing love to a drug in a very Jemma-like fashion, she was even more frustrated. Without thinking, she stood up and punched the concrete wall beside her until her knuckles bled. Why did everyone betray her? Skye felt so abandoned.

She sat down on the pathetic mattress, the only object in the room, and cried into her hands. She never wanted to see Jemma again. She felt like it was Miles all over again. When was SHIELD going to start experimenting on her like they did? Skye hoped they would just kill her. Everyone else would be better off. Skye knew she was a burden, anyone who had her in their possession could end up dying to protect her when it would be so much easier to just destroy the weapon.

Again Skye's thoughts wandered back to Jemma. How could she do this to her? Skye was still wearing Jemma's clothes and although she wanted nothing more than to rip them to shreds, it was cold in her cell and she was almost positive an expertly hidden camera was watching her.

A camera?! Skye got to her feet and began feeling the walls with her fingertips, searching for a smooth surface that could indicate a camouflaged lens.

Skye searched for hours, but couldn't find any evidence of cameras anywhere. She was beginning to get paranoid, sure someone was watching her, but not sure where from. There was one positive to that though. Skye hoped the room would drive her mad so she wouldn't have to feel anymore.

* * *

"What the hell did you do?!" Ward shouted at Jemma, walking right up to her and roughly grabbing the collar of her jacket, yanking her upwards so she was standing on her toes.

"Ward! Stand down!" Coulson ordered immediately upon entering the scene. Fitz ran over to Jemma and tried to hug her as soon as Ward released her.

"I had to, they weren't going to stop until she... until she was..." Jemma sobbed. Ward was still seething. He knew he should have done something sooner to separate the two. Now, because of Jemma, Skye was locked up, never to see the light of day again.

"I don't know what you thought, but Skye would rather be dead than in confinement." Ward told her. It was clear that everyone in the room was pissed at Jemma. Except for May. She could see the strategic reason for temporarily placing Skye in protective custody.

"We can get Skye out if we convince them that Skye isn't a threat." May said. She could feel the anger in the room and wanted to cool it before something went south and people turned to violence, as it often happened in that line of work.

"Skye will always be a threat in SHIELD's eyes if Hydra is out there." Fitz piped up.

"Then we wipe out Hydra, then get Skye." Coulson said. The hopefulness on Jemma's face was enough to inspire them to get a head start. Though they were all angry with her, they knew Jemma loved Skye so much more and in a different way than any of the rest of the team ever could.

Jemma wasn't blind, she knew she wasn't forgiven when Coulson announced that they would be taking down Hydra. She also knew that it probably wouldn't happen just because Coulson said that they were going to do it. They'd been trying unsuccessfully this whole time. Things are easier said than done.

Coulson decided to give everyone a few hours to blow off some steam before they regrouped to discuss where they were going to start. Fitz offered to keep company with Jemma, but Jemma politely turned him down, saying that she needed to be alone.

When everyone else left to their own devices, Jemma lingered in the hallway by the closet door, where she had last seen Skye's horrified face. Coulson and Ward had thrown the soldier's unconscious body into the honeycomb cell until they could find a place to drop off their inhabitants, the ones that Skye so cleverly trapped. Jemma bent over with tears in her eyes and picked up Skye's laptop, which was hastily thrown on the floor earlier. A big dent remained on the underside, one that Jemma doubted left the hardware undamaged. Jemma almost smiled, remembering Skye's words in the closet before she left and the determined look on her face when she bashed the man over the head with her most valued possession, ruining it to protect her.

Jemma had royally screwed up. This is why she usually avoided relationships at all costs: they made her stupid.

Jemma hugged to broken laptop to her chest and glided back to her bunk, where she placed it delicately on the bed and sat next to it.

In Jemma's mind, Skye could have still been sitting with her. Her bunk still smelled like Skye, and Skye's clothes, embarrassingly enough, were still on the floor. Jemma couldn't leave the mess, no matter how much she wanted to leave the room unchanged to keep Skye's presence, so she picked them up and threw them in the drawer along with her own things.

A knock at Jemma's door startled her; Fitz would probably be the only one willing to talk to her right now and he knew she wanted to be alone.

"Oh!" Jemma exclaimed when she opened the door and Ashley pushed past her inside and sat on the bed. Jemma reacted badly and clenched her fists at her side, but Ashley didn't appear to mean any harm. But then again, you can never know with undercover agents.

"I brought her on as a consultant." Coulson informed Jemma from the doorway.

"You WHAT?!" Jemma shouted at him. Ashley seemed mildly amused and continued to play with the sheets on the bed with her fingers as Jemma and Coulson argued.

"She can help. And I think she may actually have some redeeming qualities." Coulson gave Ashley a small, hidden smile over Jemma's shoulder.

"She works for people that want to destroy SHIELD!" Jemma yelled at him.

"Just like Skye did." Coulson countered. This hit center with Jemma, but it only had the power to silence her for a matter of seconds.

"Coulson, you can't-"

"I can. And I did. Ashley knows more about Skye than any of us." Coulson told Jemma. He hadn't meant to hurt her with the comment, but Jemma felt a stabbing feeling in her heart. He was right; Ashley definitely knew more about Skye's technology and probably even knew more about her personality.

"You two should talk, she and Skye are more alike than you would think. And the two of you probably have some differences to sort out if you're going to be working together in the lab." Coulson ordered her before leaving Jemma and Ashley alone.

She was going to have to share the lab with this woman? Jemma was righteously furious. She couldn't even stand the sight of Ashley, how was she going to learn to get along with her? Jemma could only imagine how annoyed Fitz would be when he found out there would be another engineer in the lab with them.

"Relax. I don't want to be a part of your little lab club. I'm only here for Catherine." Ashley informed Jemma. Jemma refused to sit down next to Ashley, she paced the two steps she could in the bunk, trying to calm herself down.

"You don't get to be here for Skye. You betrayed her." Jemma spit.

"And you didn't? Coulson told me what you did. Catherine is going to equally hate both of us forever." Ashley told her. Jemma couldn't stand the thought of Skye hating her as much as she hated Ashley. She refused to believe it.

"And her name isn't Catherine." Jemma told Ashley in an annoyed tone.

"To me it is. Just like to you her name is Skye. That's just how she introduced herself. I've been calling her Catherine for six months and I'm not about to stop." Ashley made her argument.

"Did you guys ever..." Jemma began. She had to ask the question, she just had to know. But the end of her sentence drifted off, she felt awkward asking.

"Date?" Ashley guessed the end. Jemma nodded. Ashley burst out laughing. Not just an amused chuckle at a stupid joke, but a full on laugh attack. Ashley threw her head back and just couldn't stop the noise.

"Never. No way." Ashley laughed. She couldn't even imagine dating Catherine, they were strictly best friends. Jemma felt an immense amount of relief, but she knew still that Skye would probably never talk to her again, if they could manage to get her back. Jemma wasn't done though, she had other questions.

"Was she happy?" Jemma asked, finally sitting next to Ashley on the unmade bed. The feeling in the room changed from tense to slightly gloomy. Ashley took a deep breath and placed her hands in her lap.

"From what I could tell. We had a lot of fun together." Ashley answered truthfully. Jemma felt almost guilty that they took Skye away from her new home, but then she remembered again that the whole thing was a hydra setup. Most of it was probably made up.

Ashley could see the sad look on Jemma's face.

"I don't know if she's told you, but she loves you. I can tell. She used to talk about you." Ashley told her.

"Really? What did she say?" Jemma asked, genuinely curious to know what Skye thought of her before they first kissed.

"She loved you from the start. She never mentioned anything specific, because she was hiding her past. You know how she does that. But anyways, she always said her favorite person in the world was a really kind, funny, goody-two-shoes, adorkable woman she worked with." Ashley babbled.

"Adorkable? That's not a word." Jemma laughed.

"Precisely. That's exactly why it's something she would say!" Both girls shared a small laugh before realizing again that they were enemies.

"How did you know she was talking about me when she said that stuff?" Jemma asked.

"Probably her reaction to me punching you in the face." Ashley said blatantly. Jemma couldn't help but smile a little bit, despite the fact that what Ashley said was completely true; she had punched Jemma. For some reason Jemma admitted that Ashley did remind her of Skye. Very much. It only made Jemma more miserable though.

"You were Skye's engineer, weren't you?" Jemma asked, recalling her interrogation.

"Yes, I was." Ashley said. "Probably the only reason Coulson wants me here instead of locked up." Ashley shrugged.

"I think something may be wrong with her." Jemma said.

"What makes you think so?" Ashley asked, concerned.

"The other night while we were-" Jemma stopped mid-sentence and blushed. Ashley rolled her eyes and signaled for Jemma to continue.

"Well, out of nowhere, she completely froze for a few seconds, staring off into space. She would wake up a moment later and not be aware of what she'd done." Jemma told her. Ashley appeared to be thinking for a minute, then she furrowed her eyebrows, causing Jemma to worry.

"Has Catherine had any head trauma lately?" Ashley asked. Jemma clenched her jaw with worry.

"Quite a lot more than the average person, it seems." Jemma sighed. Ashley brought her hand up to her forehead and dug her thumb and middle finger into her temples.

"I think something may be wrong, but I can't know until I see for myself." Ashley told Jemma.

"Is she going to be ok?" Jemma asked.

"Not if she hits her head again."


	17. Chapter 17

Skye's fingertips were beginning to hurt. Her nails were an absolute mess, she'd spent the last hour or so picking at the seam of her bare mattress until she finally found what she was looking for. Skye knew she looked like a crazy person, but she had to at least try to get out. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life imprisoned. Even if she was to be shot down as soon as she got outside, she wanted to see the sky at least once more.

Skye was relieved that the mattress actually had a frame. She wrenched one of the wooden boards free and flipped her mattress over so that anyone who entered wouldn't see the hole.

Skye determined that there were no cameras watching her. After trying so hard to find one and failing, she decided that SHIELD probably wouldn't risk it, risk putting any technology near her for fear that her 'powers' were more advanced than they originally thought.

She also knew that someone would be checking on her soon. A single guard had been coming in periodically to either make sure she was still inside, bring her food, or take her to the bathroom. They had clearly wanted to keep her alive for whatever reason.

Because of the fact that the cell didn't have its own bathroom or a safe way to send food inside, Skye assumed the cell had been meant for an object and not a person. That meant that a specialized cell just for her was being engineered. Skye figured that her best chance of escape was if there were still people opening the door more frequently than several years.

Skye put the piece of wood on the floor temporarily to flex her fingers. Her hands were going numb, along with her bare feet. Skye hoped that if her escape failed her new cell would at least have a solution to that problem.

Once she was sure she would be able to grip the wood with enough force, she moved over to the wall next to the door and pressed her back against it. She was going to pull a classic.

Skye had underestimated the time between visits, but eventually she did hear the door begin to unlock, just as she was feeling as if she needed to sit down.

The cement door opened almost completely and Skye had to hold her breath and press herself against the wall like putty to keep from being squished between the two very solid layers of rock.

Just as she expected, the young soldier who had the duty of checking on her this time rushed into the room, stupidly believing that somehow she had the power to disappear. He was probably worried he was going to lose his job for losing her. Well, he was right. He was going to lose her. He probably shouldn't be an agent with a high enough rank to check on her if he was stupid enough to believe her bullshit anyway.

When he was turned away, Skye slipped out from behind the door and slammed the strip of wood against his head as if she was trying to hit the winning grand slam in a world series game of baseball. Skye smiled to herself as the body hit the ground with a satisfying thump. Skye figured she was probably a psychopath now, because she enjoyed what she had just done very much. It was like a tiny bit of revenge she got for being locked up.

The guard was a little bit bigger than she was, as he was male, but Skye figured his uniform would work. She didn't even feel awkward as she stripped him of his SHIELD issued ID and uniform, he had clothes underneath.

It felt good for Skye to finally put socks on her cold feet, even though they were too big, just like the shoes. Skye made it work though. She twirled her hair around her finger and tucked it up into her new cap to appear more like an agent.

Skye wasn't sorry when she slipped out of the cell and closed it behind her. It felt like someone had just repaid her a dept when she turned the vault lock and shut him in. If she could deal with being in there for as long as she had, she doubted he wouldn't be able to take a little bit until he was expected somewhere else and she was made.

Once Skye finally had a chance to look around, her jaw dropped. It seemed as if the hallway continued endlessly in both directions. Skye knew there were probably cameras out here, so she had to act as if she belonged. As if she was the guard who had been checking on a prisoner. She held her head high and picked a random direction to go, pretending she meant to go that way.

As Skye saw another guard coming her direction with a gun, her heart rate sped up significantly and she wished she had one too. It obviously would have been a risk to send a guard into her cell with a gun, because she could take it. That was probably a good choice on their part, it was the reason Skye was unarmed right now.

The other agent, guard, soldier, or whatever he was noticed Skye's lack of weapon and stopped her in the hall by holding out a hand. Skye swallowed a lump in her throat, but remained cool when he finally spoke.

"Did you just come from checking on the computer-girl?" He asked curiously. "I haven't had the job yet and I'm curious to see what she looks like." Skye almost burst out laughing right there, he had no idea who he was talking to. Skye looked both directions as if checking to make sure no one was listening before leaning in. The man's curiosity got the best of him and he raised his eyebrows.

"Very sexually alluring. If she wasn't ape shit crazy I would hit that." Skye whispered. He raised his eyebrows even further, if that was possible, as the pervert probably imagined the lesbian sex in his head. Skye winked and patted his shoulder as she walked away, brushing her body against his to conceal the fact that she slipped his phone from his pocket. In foster homes Skye learned how to steal; if she hadn't, she probably would have starved. Some of them only took her to get the check every month, sometimes she had to fend for herself when it came to getting food.

Skye was about to dial when she realized. She had no one to call. No Jemma, no Coulson, no team. They betrayed her again. A sudden boiling anger overcame her as she shoved the cell phone into her own pocket. Another pair of soldiers passed by her and she nodded at them to show her acknowledgement. She'd seen enough SHIELD agents to know what was common behavior. Because she was beginning to see more and more agents, she assumed she was nearing the exit, or at least the main part of wherever she was.

Skye had to do it, it was just so tempting. She took the smart phone out of her pocket and typed in Jemma's phone number. She opened the camera and pictured Jemma's face, causing a glare full of emotion to show on her face. She snapped the picture and began typing the text that was going to accompany it.


	18. Chapter 18

**Well, unfortunately, it appears we are nearing the end of this story. :(. There are a few chapters left, don't worry. You may notice that this is the first author's note I've put on this story. That's because I found writing the notes pointless before, but this time I have a few comments I need to add. First off, Ward is not part of Hydra because that just doesn't make sense for this story. And second, I apologize ahead of time for the shitty writing in this chapter. I am having a horrible writer's block but still feel the need to update, so just bare with me. It will get better. **

Ashley needed a bunk. She had offered to stay in the lounge, but Coulson would have none of it.

Skye had taken the last bunk when she joined their team, so hers was the only one open. Jemma couldn't stand it being changed, so she offered to let Ashley take hers while she stayed in Skye's. Coulson didn't question it. He, as well as everyone else, knew that Jemma needed it.

Jemma had been a mess since Skye was removed from the plane, even though it had been by her own hand. Jemma hadn't been sleeping, it was clear because of the dark circles around her eyes, her messy hair, and her tendency to be unable to concentrate.

Jemma picked a few of her things and Skye's laptop, and cleared out of her room for Ashley. Ashley saw her pass by with it and extended an offer.

"In return for your bunk, the least I could do is fix that for you." Ashley stopped her in the hall.

"No, but thanks. I want to be the one to fix it." Jemma told her.

"No offence, but that probably won't end well. I'll tell you what. You can be the one to fix it, but I can help out with a few tips." Ashley changed her offer. Jemma thought about it for a moment, but soon nodded and accepted. Ashley smiled and the two parted ways.

When Jemma slid open the door to the bunk, she was instantly hit with a wave of Skye. Her smell filled the room along with the mess she left behind that Jemma really didn't mind. She couldn't even bring herself to clean it up.

Jemma was exhausted. She set her stuff down and passed out as soon as she laid down on the bed, where she could almost feel Skye next to her. Why hadn't she thought of this before? It was so much easier to sleep when she could feel Skye's presence...

Jemma jolted awake when her phone buzzed. Checking Skye's clock, Jemma was confused. Her phone alarm shouldn't go off for another hour. The screen of her phone lit up the whole bunk. Jemma finally picked it up and saw that she had a new text message. As soon as she opened it she dropped her phone on the bed in shock and a sob escaped her lips.

Skye. It was a picture of Skye in a SHIELD uniform, an icy glare plastered on her face that was obviously meant for her. The text below it also grabbed her attention.

"I guess the security here isn't as good as it's cracked up to be. So long, Jemma Simmons." Jemma's chest ached and she felt like she was going to throw up. Skye escaped. Skye _escaped?!_ She was never going to see her again, was she? Jemma knew all the signs, she knew she was having a panic attack, but she couldn't help it. She felt like she was going to die.

She was almost proud that her Skye could break out of a SHIELD containment facility, but she was also terrified. Skye was unprotected now, with who knows who on her tail.

"FITZ!" Jemma shouted as she barreled out of Skye's bunk and into his. "I need you to try and track a phone number!" She threw her phone at him and he woke up with a groan.

"I have to tell Coulson. We have to go find her." Jemma told herself. She bolted out of Fitz's bunk and sprinted to inform Coulson. She eventually found him in the cockpit with May.

"Skye... escaped!" She huffed. A look of disbelief crossed his face, but May stoically didn't show any reaction. Fitz came in right behind her, phone in hand. He tossed the phone to Coulson and he looked at the picture with a look of confusion on his face.

"How did she break out of a cell in the sandbox?" Coulson wondered aloud.

"You knew where she was?" Jemma asked with disappointment. Of course she wouldn't have suggested breaking her out, but she would have liked to know where she was.

"May, change course. We have to find her before Hydra does. I'd bet they're monitoring Simmons' phone and just got that message as well. They'll be trying to trace it." He said. May nodded and pressed a few buttons. Fitzsimmons grabbed onto each other to keep from falling over as the bus turned around.

"While we're there, we can hand over our _guests_." Coulson said, meaning the Hydra soldiers they still had locked up on the bus. They had tried to get useful information out of them, but it didn't seem they knew any more than Ashley did. They were useless and were probably just wrecking all of the supplies in the storage room.

Coulson had to admit, he was impressed with Skye's actions lately. She managed to escape with Simmons and their lives when they were captured, trapped thirteen soldiers with only a laptop, and somehow managed to escape her cell in the sand box. She would make an excellent agent, probably one of the best, if she still wanted to be one.

Halfway through the ride to the sandbox Coulson received a call. Fitzsimmons were still in the cockpit, refusing to leave in case in update came on Skye. It did.

"We have her back in custody. She won't be getting away again." Agent Hand's voice flowed over the phone on speaker. Jemma was relieved, but still scared. She knew Skye wouldn't have just raised her hands above her head and walked back in with them when they found her, she would have put up a fight. And she wondered what it was that made Agent Hand so sure that she wouldn't be escaping again.

Coulson finished the conversation and turned to Simmons. It seemed as if she was waiting for something from her.

"Can I still go visit her? There are some things I need to tell her." Simmons informed him. Coulson just nodded, he had expected her to request that.

No more than two seconds later Coulson's phone buzzed again. Jemma's heart leapt out of her throat as he picked up.

"Don't come here Coulson, Hydra is in SHIELD!" Agent Hand shouted loudly.

"What? What do you mean-"

"Hydra has infiltrated the highest levels of- _oomf_!" Agent Hand's voice was cut off at the sound of a gunshot. By now Ward and Ashley had joined them in the crowded cockpit and the entire remaining team didn't move or speak.

* * *

**_(A few minutes ago)_**

Skye realized how stupid she was. She removed her cap and let her long, messy brown hair fall over her shoulders before she replaced it. She was lucky no one had seen the device at her hairline yet. She had gotten so used to it being there that she didn't think to keep it hidden.

Skye continued to bravely walk down the hall, even when an ear piercing alarm rang out and the hall flashed with orange lights. She knew she'd been made, so she shouldn't have been surprised when she finally stepped into a main lounge-like room full of soldiers, all in identical uniforms, on their feet. She was disappointed though.

Skye spotted one of the men who had taken her off the bus, and when she made eye contact, she knew she was done for.

"Hey! That's her!" He shouted, pointing.

"Shit." Skye said out loud. Skye knew they weren't just going to let her skip to the elevator and exit the facility, so she took action. She ran into the crowd of soldiers and the movement that followed made her impossible to distinguish her from any of the other female soldiers in the room. Except for one. A certain female wearing a certain suit, with certain red stripes in her hair. And of course, with her luck, this is the person Skye crashes into. Skye had been glancing behind to see if anyone was on to her when she smacked right into Agent Hand and then proceeded to fall on her ass in a very ungraceful fashion.

Several soldiers immediately claimed control of her limbs and dragged her all the way back to her cell, not bothering to slow down and accidentally kicking her heels when she couldn't keep up.

Skye finally knew her fight was over and complied, offering her hands when they entered her cell for the hand cuffs she knew were coming.

Agent Hand stepped out of the cell, appearing to be calling someone. Skye heard the name Coulson drift through the doorway as the first handcuff clicked into place too tightly around her wrists. Of course.

Before the soldiers finish securing the second cuff, one of them pulled out a gun and shot the other three. He smiled at Skye and held his finger up to his lips, instructing Skye to be quiet, as he snuck out into the hall. Skye was frozen in fear. She had no idea what had just gone down in front of her.

"Don't come here Coulson, Hydra is in SHIELD!" Skye heard Hand outside. Don't come?! Coulson was coming?! Her team was coming! Skye let herself get excited for a minute before she remembered that she couldn't rely on them to come get her. Not after those eight months. Another gunshot sounded and Skye jumped in place. She tried to escape through the doorway, but several more armed guards blocked her path. Who was really in charge here?

One man, the first soldier who attacked the others, smiled at Skye as he walked back into the room. He signaled to another guard, who produced a laptop from his bag. Great. Now Skye knew what was going on. Another third party wanted her ability.

Skye had heard the Hand's phone clatter to the ground, but hadn't heard it shatter, so knew Jemma would be listening. Skye took a deep breath. She needed to keep her cool for Jemma's sake, no matter how terrified she was. She didn't want Jemma to sit on the other end of the line like she knew she would and worry about her.

* * *

Coulson turned the phone off of speaker mode when he heard Skye. Jemma didn't need to hear this.

"Coulson! Give me the phone!" Jemma pleaded, reaching across him with one hand for the device that expelled Skye's voice. Although Coulson resisted, Jemma made one more lunge and snatched the phone from him, pressing it against her ear.

"Don't touch me you asshole!" Skye shouted. Jemma cringed. It seemed as if after killing Hand they failed to destroy her cell phone, which miraculously worked underground.

"She's prettier than you'd think the average imprisoned computer geek would be, isn't she boys?" Jemma clutched the phone in her fingers and didn't let anyone take it from her.

It was unspoken that May not turn the plane around despite Agent Hand's warning. They weren't going to leave their team member in the wrong hands. They weren't going to make that mistake again. Knowing this, Jemma left the cockpit to listen to the phone alone as they made their way ever closer to Skye's location.

"I wish I could say that you looked better than the average lackey, but, well..." Skye's voice trailed off before she delivered the punch line. "I've seen a nose like yours before, and it looked better on the monkey." Jemma couldn't help but smile. Ten points for Skye. It comforted her to hear that Skye was still sarcastic, meaning she obviously didn't feel too threatened at this point.

"You know kid, your mouth's the perfect size... for your foot." Skye's new captor responded.

"Well, I think I'd rather have my foot in my mouth than my head up my ass." Skye said seriously. Jemma could actually hear the chuckles of other men in the room as they laughed at Skye's teasing of their boss.

Jemma thought Skye was going to be okay until she heard the muffled sound of a fist hitting flesh and she just knew it was Skye. Skye cried out in pain and the call was suddenly cut off. Someone had found the phone.


	19. Chapter 19

"What is it that you want to force me to do?" Skye asked, getting straight to the point after recovering from the punch to the jaw and watching a soldier smash a cell phone beneath his boot.

"Oh, nothing, princess." Skye now recognized the man as John Garret. She'd only seen pictures of him and heard about him, but she knew he was a high level shield operative. Garret nodded and his soldier opened the laptop, revealing the deletion of all SHIELD files. It was then that Skye noticed the small device attached to the computer in the form of a usb drive. It was the weapon she and fitzsimmons created. Agent Hand must have confiscated it and Garret must have found it here.

"Unknowingly, you did do what we asked. I just came here to see your face when you realized we don't need you anymore." Garret told Skye as he pointed his gun at her. Skye kept looking back and forth from Garret to the computer screen. He was right! She was absolutely tricked! Skye was suddenly horrified. Was Coulson Hydra? Is that why he asked fitzsimmons to make the weapon? No, it couldn't be. Skye wouldn't believe it.

"You know what? To keep yourself alive, you could do one more thing for me. Track The Bus." Garret ordered her. The soldier forced the laptop into her hands and smirked at her. Skye lightly shook her head no. She wouldn't do it, she wouldn't betray them any further.

"Oh, fine. Have it your way." Garret sighed, holding to gun up at her.

"Sir! The bus has just landed. Here." A runner burst into the room and informed Garret.

"Speak of the devil! Alright, Monroe, keep an eye on this one. Coulson may be here for his pet. The rest of you, with me. We're going to cross him off right now." He commanded, leaving Skye in the cell with only one guard. That was a mistake. He clearly underestimated her and how far she was willing to go to protect her famil- team. Her team.

Skye took action, throwing her arms over her guard's head and yanking them backwards, choking him. He flailed uselessly and shot into dead air, hitting the ceiling, walls, and anywhere but Skye.

When he managed to gain control, he leaned forward and flung Skye over his back. Skye landed on the ground with a painful smack, but continued fighting. She kicked upwards into the stomach above her and jumped to her feet while he recovered. A small smirk hid on her face. The move Ward had taught her was about to become useful.

The guard threw a punch, and this time Skye was ready. She leaned to her left and kicked with her right as hard as she could, successfully smashing her heel into his kneecap, temporarily maiming him as he fell to his knees. This gave Skye the opportunity to give the final blow, leaning her weight onto her right foot as soon as it was back on the ground and swinging her left across his face, knocking him out cold.

Skye searched him for the keys to her handcuffs, but came up blank. She did steal his gun though. Skye could hear gunshot, lots of gunshot, outside her cell and knew she would need it. She slipped out the door and immediately had to fire one at a soldier aiming at her. Skye traveled in the direction she went when she broke out earlier, she knew how far it was until she reached that lounge. From there she would try to find a way out.

Skye felt as if she was under a spell. She'd never been good at fighting, but her determination seemed to boost her skills. She knew Jemma was here. If the bus was here, Jemma was here. And a horde of soldiers was heading their way to kill them all.

* * *

Jemma hated being helpless.

"Stay on the plane with Fitz and Ashley." Coulson had ordered her before taking the rest of the team out through the cargo hold, where they were met with immediate fire. Jemma hated hiding in the lab with Fitz. He saw the look on her face and knew he was going to have to do something.

"Simmons, no." Fitz told her, placing a gentle hand on one of her shoulders as she stared out the bullet-proof glass as May, Coulson, and Ward disappeared into the building. "You'll get yourself killed."

"I got her in here, it's my responsibility to help get her out." Jemma responded. Neither of them had noticed Ashley had disappeared until she returned, holding three guns.

"Are you coming, or are you waiting for an invitation?" Ashley asked them, offering the two extra guns. Jemma stood up and pulled out of Fitz's hands to accept the gun. Fitz stood undecided, not sure what to do.

"Keep the bus entrances locked up tight. Be ready for us to come back." Jemma said, taking Ashley's second gun so that she had one in each hand. Fitz nodded as Ashley slammed her hand against the button that opened the lab doors into the cargo hold.

"Stay safe." Fitz offered one last set of words for Jemma and Ashley as they jogged down the cargo hold ramp and into the building where the madness was.

"Duck!" Ashley commanded almost as soon as they entered the long stretch of white hallways. They both dropped to their knees as shots flew above their head. When the stood up, they pressed their backs together and each dropped a set of soldiers that had them trapped. Like Skye, Jemma was suddenly full of adrenaline.

"Come on." Ashley said quietly. Jemma stared in horror at the two people she just killed, but she knew they would have killed her without a second thought, so she had to get over it.

When they rounded a corner, they saw May fighting hand to hand combat with a soldier, both had disarmed each other. May looked scared when she saw the two untrained women, but the look quickly dissipated when Ashley shot someone coming at them from behind and Jemma slid over one of her guns, one that May took gratefully and shot her attacker.

"Good luck. Find Skye." May told her, taking off in another direction.

Bodies littered the floor and Jemma was beginning to shake. She couldn't help but check to make sure none of them were Skye. Every time she saw a female with brown hair her heart would stop until she made sure it wasn't her.

Ashley and Jemma soon entered a hallway where the walls were lined with vault doors. Skye could be in any number of them, they didn't have time to check them all.

A shot fired behind them and Ashley cried out before dropping to the ground. Jemma shot the soldier down quickly and turned to Ashley, who was clutching her bleeding leg.

A group of three soldiers approached them, aiming their guns. There was no way Jemma was going to get out of there, especially not with Ashley. She raised her hands above her head slowly and kicked her gun over to the soldiers as commanded. Tears brimmed in Jemma's eyes. She failed. Skye was probably dead, she knew this by now. The SHIELD files had been deleted before she had left the plane. They didn't need her any more. Hydra won.

Jemma let out a screech when one of them grabbed her by the hair.

"We can have some fun with this one." The tallest of the three soldiers snickered. Jemma felt like she was going to be sick, and she was right. Just at the thought of one of them doing what she thought they wanted to do, she threw up all over the guy holding her, causing the other two to burst out laughing.

"Not so good with the ladies, are ya?" They teased as the soldier pushed Jemma away from him. Jemma used the distraction to grab her gun off the floor and shoot the offending soldier in the chest several times. That shut his buddies up. They took one look at their friend on the ground before one of them grabbed Jemma from behind and held her arms behind her back while the other threw punches into her stomach. Jemma screamed and kicked, but she couldn't get them to stop. Ashley muttered helplessly from the ground.

Jemma knew it was over. She was done for, as well as Ashley. She gave it her best shot. She tried her best to save Skye and hoped that if she was alive that, somehow, someway, she could know that.


	20. Chapter 20

Skye spun around when she heard a very feminine screech. Jemma.

Skye charged back down the hall where she heard Jemma's voice, determined not to let her get shot. No matter what Jemma did, Skye always had this nagging feeling when she thought about Jemma, one that wouldn't go away. It was unconditional. She wanted to protect her so badly.

Every memory she had of Jemma seemed to flash through her mind as she ran down the hallway clumsily in the over sized shoes.

She remembered the way Jemma looked at her and the way Jemma touched her, like she was loved and she was wanted. That was a feeling Skye treasured more than anything in the world and she would do anything to get it back.

She remembered all the times she had spent laughing with Jemma before and after the eight months, the eight months that so changed her life.

"Jemma!" Skye screamed as she charged at a pair of soldiers harassing her. Just the sight of her was like a plunger full of adrenaline that just emptied itself into her heart. The second Jemma caught sight of Skye her eyes lit up and hope shone in them.

Skye's call grabbed the attention of the two soldiers. They were some of the soldiers that were in the cell with her when Garret punched her, which only made her even more furious. She shot one of them, dropping him instantly. The other one dropped Jemma to the floor hastily and took a shot at Skye. Skye winced as she felt the fire slice open her side, but she was almost sure it was just a graze. Jemma wasn't so sure.

"Skye!" She called. Everything moved so fast, The soldier grabbed Jemma and held her up as a human shield before Skye could fire. Skye's eyes widened and she dropped the gun when he pressed his against Jemma's jaw.

The soldier could have shot Skye right there, but he was crueler than that. He forced Jemma's fingers to wrap around the gun and he stuck one of her fingers through the loop that held the trigger.

"No, no, no." Jemma cried, resisting him and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Kill her." He whispered into Jemma's ear. She shook her head furiously as she sobbed. Skye's hands shook above her head in anger, angry that the soldier was holding Jemma too tightly and forcing her to do something so horrible.

"Kill her or I'll kill both of you." He told her wickedly. Skye opened her mouth to tell her to do it, but Jemma cut her off.

"I love you Skye." Jemma mouthed the words, but it was clear to Skye what Jemma meant. Skye walked closer to the gun until her own forehead was a few feet from the barrel.

"No..." Jemma cried. The soldier gave a small laugh, he clearly thought he had control of the situation. Skye remembered one of the first things Ward taught her, the move she used to gain control at Ian Quinn's mansion.

In one swift movement Skye stole the gun and shot him in the shoulder, forcing him to let go of Jemma. Skye took aim again and finished him off with a deafening bang. Jemma screamed, clearly not sure who had been shot and looked to Skye in concern.

When Jemma realized that Skye was the one who took the shot and that she truly was alive, standing right in front of her, Jemma tackled her into a hug, wrapping her arms around Skye's middle so tightly she made it difficult for Skye to breathe and buried her face in Skye's hair and neck. Skye stood there, shocked, for a few seconds. Jemma wasn't sure Skye would even return the gesture. Skye seemed pretty angry last time they saw each other.

Skye dropped the gun from her hand while it hung limp at her side. It took Skye a moment to battle her emotions, but she wrapped her arms around Jemma's shaking body and hugged her close. It was unconditional. No matter what Jemma did, she couldn't shake the warm feeling that came over her when Jemma was near.

"I love you too, Jemma Simmons." Skye whispered into her ear, finally giving Jemma the response she wanted on the bus.

"As sweet as this little reunion is, I'm still bleeding out on the floor." Ashley's sarcastic voice broke into their little bubble. Skye and Jemma laughed a little. Jemma hiccuped and knelt next to Ashley.

"We've, uh, we've got to get her back to the bus." Jemma informed Skye while wiping away a few happy tears.

"Skye, Skye behind you!" Ashley suddenly shouted. Jemma whipped her head around to see what Ashley saw behind Skye. One of the soldiers got up and was holding the usb Jemma remembered making.

One moment lasts about three seconds. The average person experiences around eight hundred fifty-one million, four hundred seventy-two thousand moments. Isn't it peculiar that just one of those eight hundred fifty-one million, four hundred seventy-two thousand moments can change the rest of your life, change the rest of your moments? Why is it that one moment has the power to stop you from having the rest of them?

You would think the moments that threaten your entire existence would seem to last more than three seconds. But they don't. They are just one moment.

Skye was frozen. Jemma recognized the blank look in her eyes, the look she had when they kissed that night. Skye wasn't moving, she was frozen in place, staring down the hall with an expressionless face and posture.

The soldier stuck the flash drive into Skye's device and took off running down the hall before Jemma could slaughter him for it.

"Skye!" Jemma screamed. Skye's body began to convulse before Skye's normal expression returned and she unfroze. Jemma grabbed her shoulders and Skye's eyes focused on Jemma once before everything went to hell.

It all happened in less than a few seconds. The first thing Skye lost was her sight. Everything blurred and soon turned to black. It was terrifying. Next went her sense of smell. She could no longer pick up on the metallic scent of the hallway or the faint lingering smell of Jemma. Her hearing faded and she collapsed, the last thing she heard was Jemma calling her name. She was in Jemma's arms on the floor for what felt like the millionth time. She was comfortable there. She was ok with dying here, Skye realized. She felt Jemma's hands on her face. When her sense of touch disappeared, Skye thought she had been forced into oblivion. Skye relaxed and let herself disappear. It was time. She had saved Jemma, her work here was finished.

"Skye! Skye!" Jemma cried as she pulled out the flash drive and pushed Skye's hair out of her face, cupping it with both hands as she lay in her lap. She was so close. She was so close to getting Skye back, and the soldier ruined it.

"Jemma, turn her over." Ashley grunted, pulling herself closer. Jemma would do what she was told if there was any hope of saving the girl she loved, so she obeyed Ashley, gently turning Skye inward so Skye's forehead was pressed against Jemma's stomach and her centipede device was exposed.

Ashley put one finger on the glowing orange section and it appeared to read her fingerprint.

"Code 48273. Clean System." Ashley said as clearly as she could manage. Jemma was freaking out. Skye appeared near death in her arms and Ashley was paling by the second.

For several long seconds they both held their breath until Skye took one of her own. Skye's eyelids fluttered open and Jemma smiled.

"Hey there." She said. Skye smiled and reached up with one hand and placed it on the back of Jemma's neck, pulling her face closer until their lips could touch. Skye only brushed them together for a moment before claiming Jemma her own.

"You ok?" Skye asked when they parted from their chaste kiss for air. Jemma couldn't help but laugh. Here Skye was, after almost dying in her arms, asking if any of the soldiers hurt her.

"I'm not. Now if you two wouldn't mind...?" Ashley butted in. Skye had an extreme look of confusion and anger on her face when she finally realized it was Ashley that Jemma was with instead of some other SHIELD agent.

"Down, girl. I'm on your side." Ashley joked, patting Skye's leg and wincing at her own action.

"Simmons? Ashley? Skye!" Ward exclaimed when he came into view.

"Hurry! Get Ashley back to the bus!" Jemma yelled. Ward wasted no time in scooping Ashley into his arms, but he couldn't stop himself from staring at Skye in Jemma's arms. They both tried to get up, but they found that neither of them really had it in them. Skye's head was spinning and Jemma was sure she had a cracked rib or two.

Coulson and May ran closer when Ward called them on the earpiece, and each moved to help one of the girls up. Jemma cried out in pain and Skye insisted on wrapping Jemma's arm over her shoulders even though she herself needed to be steadied by May as Coulson supported Jemma's other side.

"Garret and Hydra are still here, we need to get out fast." Coulson ordered as they rushed back to the bus.

Their team looked lopsided, broken, and awkward, but they were all happy. Even though catastrophe had hit and SHIELD had been destroyed, they all at least had the little happiness that came with having their entire team back in place. Agent May would never admit it, but she was overjoyed to have Skye back.


	21. Chapter 21

It hurt like hell, but Jemma managed to turn onto her side to face Skye on the small bed in the bunk. They were a pathetic little pair, Jemma's torso wrapped in bandages while she was recovering from broken ribs, and Skye, who had several new marks from her most recent endeavor.

Skye was using Jemma's arm as a pillow and the effects were beginning to take their toll on Jemma. When she tried to move her fingers, they tingled so badly she almost couldn't move them. Jemma didn't mind though. She propped herself up on that elbow and lightly kissed Skye's temple. Skye mumbled something inaudible in her sleep and scooted closer to Jemma, if closer was even possible.

Jemma moved Skye's hair away from her neck and brushed her fingers against the stitches. As soon as Ashley was able, Jemma helped her operate on Skye and fix the numerous bugs and broken circuits that Fitz hadn't even been able to detect. It made Fitz jealous, but Ashley was quite the engineer and was especially useful when it came to all things Skye.

Jemma also slid her hand over Skye's waist and felt those stitches too. Skye had been grazed by the bullet before. Jemma had to make sure all of Skye's injuries were in check, she was always worried.

Jemma couldn't help but wrap her arm around Skye and tuck her into her own body, continuing to trace patterns into the soft skin of Skye's stomach to let her drift back into deep sleep.

Jemma's phone buzzed beside her a moment later and she knew it was time to get up. As much as she wanted to stay in bed with Skye all day, there was a broken SHIELD that needed fixing.

"Darling, it's time to get up." Jemma shook Skye's shoulder softly and kissed her cheek.

"Is it noon yet?" Skye asked, frowning and pursing her lips together.

"No, it's seven."

"Then I don't care." Skye groaned and moved her head from on top of Jemma's arm, stuffing it under her own pillow to block Jemma out. Jemma shook her hand to make some blood travel to her fingertips before attempting to wake Skye again.

"Will you get up if I make you food?" Jemma asked, knowing her girlfriend's weaknesses.

"What kind of food?" Skye asked from underneath the pillow. Jemma smiled at the childish tone in Skye's voice. It was almost as if food was a form of currency to her.

"Any kind you want." Jemma sighed, knowing she was going to regret it later.

"Peanut butter pancakes?" Skye questioned. Jemma rolled her eyes. It was a food Skye loved that Jemma found quite odd.

"With bananas on top." Jemma confirmed. She had her now. Skye sat up so quickly the pillow rolled off her head and hit Jemma in the face.

"You're incorrigible." Jemma rolled her eyes at Skye, who now looked like she'd been bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for an hour.

"You know you love me Jems." Skye teased as she jumped to her feet and helped pull Jemma onto hers. Skye had long since tried to keep Jemma in bed. It was no use, Jemma only felt good when she was up and about anyways.

"You really need to improve your diet." Jemma told her.

"Yes, Dr. Simmons." Skye nodded seriously as they exited the bunk hand in hand.

"Hey Ash." Skye greeted Ashley as they passed her in the hall. She was headed towards Fitz's bunk on her crutches. As it turned out the two had much in common and hit it off. Jemma was still pushing for Fitz to ask her out.

"Cat." Ashley smiled.

It had taken a lot of work over the last weeks, at first having Skye and Ashley on the bus was like having an evil cat and a rabid dog with a love to hate in the same room. Eventually the fighting stopped as Skye learned to trust again, with Jemma's help.

Jemma noticed a massive amount of improvement in that area. Skye had started opening up to her more easily, and seemed to be trusting her team again. They were getting Skye back, the one they had over nine months ago.

Jemma took a box from the fridge and emptied the pancakes onto Skye's plate before throwing it in the microwave. She had decided two days ago that it was just easier to make them in bulk and microwave them for Skye in the morning.

Five minutes later the two of them continued their new morning routine and sat opposite each other at a table. As they sat down, Jemma handed Skye the plate of pancakes and Skye handed her the bowl of yogurt and fruit. They did the same thing almost every morning.

"How many times am I going to have to tell you to slow down before you actually listen?" Jemma sighed, eating a spoonful of the yogurt that magically tasted better just because Skye handed it to her. Skye looked up from wolfing down her food and smiled.

Skye shrugged her shoulders and Skye's stuffed cheeks suddenly made her look like a chipmunk, causing Jemma to chuckle.

"Meeting in twenty." May said as she passed by them, a tiny smile detectable on her features.

"Skye! I have something to show you!" Jemma suddenly remembered, grabbing Skye by the hand and dragging her away from her pancakes. Skye took one last bite before they were out of range and she followed Jemma down to the lab. They were both in their tank tops and sweats still, and it made Fitz laugh at them a little before he left to give them a few minutes alone. He knew what the surprise was.

"Cover your eyes." Jemma told Skye after sitting her down on the stool she used to sit at in the corner.

"No peeking!" Jemma corrected her when she saw two of Skye's fingers slightly parted.

"You know I don't have the patience or the attention span to-"

"Ok. You can look." Skye opened her eyes to find Jemma holding her old laptop. She had wondered where that went, and if it survived her attack on the soldier. Skye had to bite her bottom lip to control the size of her smile, and Jemma took this as her cue to open it. The background was a massive heart with the words "You're my favorite girlfriend." written in the middle. Happy tears ran down Skye's cheeks and she pulled Jemma into a hug, barely giving her time to put the laptop on the counter. Not only did she still have the ratty old thing, but it worked.

"I fixed it myself. With a little help." Jemma said. She wasn't sure if Skye heard it, she was so crushed in her hug that it might have been muffled.

"I love it. I love you." Skye cried.

"You're going to re-break my ribs." Jemma told her.

"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry." Skye pulled away and her concern made Jemma snicker.

"Skye, I'm fine." Jemma assured her, placing her hands delicately around Skye's waist, pulling her close again. Just as Jemma leaned in for a kiss, the moment was stolen by Coulson, whose voice killed the mood over the intercoms they installed in every room.

"You're late. Again." He said sternly, but they knew they weren't in any trouble. Coulson knew the relationship between them was doing nothing but good and he wasn't about to yell at them for it.

"Just get up here, Skimmons." He sighed. Jemma and Skye both broke into a grin. Everyone had stopped referring to them as different people and instead called them by a single name representing the entity that was the pair of them. Just like they had called Jemma and Leo Fitzsimmons, the pair of them now needed their own name. It was much easier than saying Skye and Jemma, because the words were almost always said together in the same sentence.

The two giggled and linked pinkies as they walked back upstairs into their meeting room. They hadn't changed into regular clothes yet, but it didn't matter to them, as long as they were embarrassed together. Ashley wasn't dressed yet either, she was just like Skye. Way too lazy to change until she had to be out in public. Everyone on the shield team was like family. Ashley was now officially part of that family. Jemma had moved into Skye's bunk and Ashley took her old one.

Standing around the table Skye most often used, the entire team took a moment to look at each other before beginning. Coulson, May, Ward, Ashley, Fitz, Jemma, and Skye. They were a family. Skye finally had a family.

After searching all those years for a family that wanted her and all the years after searching for the family that shared her blood, she found her true family when she least expected it in a form that no one could have predicted. She found a fatherly figure in Coulson; a strange, almost motherly relationship with May; a protective cousin in Ward, who finally realized he couldn't have her; a best friend in Ashley, one with whom she could have fights and watch movies with; a funny brother in Fitz that always made her smile; and a lover in Jemma, one whom Skye was sure she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

SHIELD may have been destroyed, but the fight was not over for Coulson's team, nor would it ever be until everything was right in the world. And it didn't matter how much work they had ahead of them or what their chances would be of completing it successfully. They would take it one day at a time. But the most important thing was that they were together.

Seven people, each with a fraction of the solution. That they could work with. Seven people with different pasts that all joined hands and worked together. They would have happy times, sad times, and they would probably fight. But they were a team and they were always going to operate together like clockwork. It was beautiful.


End file.
